Artist: Shadow Gallery
Label: Inside Out Records
Release: 2005
Rating: 3.5/5
Well, it’s finally here! The band’s fifth studio album in nineteen years of existence. Shadow Gallery are clearly total musical perfectionists, polishing, buffing and nitpicking every record until they fall short of what they were after. “Room V” continues the concept that the ever socially critical Shadow Gallery kicked off in 1998 with the gem “Tyranny”, which now, with Act III and Act IV, has grown into a full tetralogy. The concept follows two lovers, a couple who want to rise above what has happened, leave it behind for good, and so begin “living anew in harmony together”. Sounds cheesy, but it’s not quite like that… Love between two people. Easy to talk about, harder to put into practice, because it’s up to us what we sacrifice in order to gain and/or lose. Fear of loss, which leads us to the dark side (as Yoda would say), still tips the scales in its own favor, so we refuse to sacrifice or try the unknown, and life just drifts past us and stays empty… On “Room V”, the man in the lead role watches a truly chilling scenario unfold before his eyes, the worst nightmare imaginable. Just when it looks like he’s happily got all the stars in the sky lined up, he first loses his wife, and at the start of the fourth part, to top it all off, his daughter tragically dies after seven years. The rest of the record, through the fiery flames of the hell of personal spiritual transformation, ends with the song Rain, in which the soul is washed clean of immeasurable pain and rage so that a new person can be born, spiritually stronger and richer. The symbolism of the cover personifies inner life force (the intertwined snakes), surrounded by fire, which stands for transformation! What can we learn? Don’t get attached to material things and beings. Is that even possible? In this Western world?
On to the music. Slick production where absolutely everything is crystal clear, where the instruments sit in constant perfect balance, and where every musician is equally expressive in their part. Shadow Gallery are the very definition of fitting motifs together into an ideal puzzle that you can listen to with immense pleasure, one that pulls you straight into its world, soaked in extraordinary moods and relentlessly lofty atmosphere. The contrast between the tracks is outstanding! Take just the two shorter instrumentals that follow one another and are built similarly, yet radiate completely different moods. The first, Birth Of Daughter, is full of glow, warmth, elation and longing, while the next one, Death Of Mother, literally shocks you with the spasms of icy coldness of inevitable loss (death).
The Archer Of Ben Salem is a progressive metal paradise, conjured up with a fantastic second (instrumental) part where guitar and keyboard solo breakouts reign freely in perfect communication with each other, a parallel to The Chrusher, the second part of Cliffhanger 2 (“Legacy”, 2001). It’s precisely these moments on “Room V”, in all their flawless blend of technical mastery and real, living-and-breathing atmosphere, that take the listener’s breath away. The next two, the slightly calmer Encrypted and the fire-breathing title track Room V, don’t fall short in the slightest. Interestingly, on Act IV the instrumental section takes absolute dominance on the record, even on the tracks with vocals. Those vocals, with their crafted weave of multi-vocal collages, mostly adorn the openings of the songs, which then morph into a proper tornado of devilish instrumental pounding, where Gary Wehrkamp once again shows he’s a guitar genius without equal. In the second part of the title track, you’ll find out, among other things, that the famous “Flight of the Bumblebee” is a total toddler next to the dizzying speed and simultaneous astonishing precision that Shadow Gallery unleash in this part of the song. Angry riffs roll relentlessly one after another, and the song surges high on the wings of keyboards that give a grandiose feeling, as if a whole philharmonic orchestra were present next to the band. The track is perfected “down to zero”. Crushing atmosphere, ruin and hopelessness, total chaos, war, in short, pure mayhem. The music at this point is a version of metal in the best possible light, and the energy the band manifests here unstoppably summons hordes of ants to crawl all over your body. That’s the whole point of rock, and a bullseye. After the conjured-up universal deluge comes the aforementioned Rain. Preparation for a new resurrection, a new birth. The song is built more simply, again on a massive riff of course, but since it closes the album, the vocals take the lead once more.
Quality always beats quantity. The album is a must for all prog diehards, and a heartfelt recommendation for other music curiosos, since it’ll get you the whole point of quality prog metal rock, or rather, with ‘Room V’ you’ll cover an enormous chunk of all the spectral dimensions this genre has to offer. And that I lay on your heart.
Line-up
Mike Baker – vocals
Gary Wehrkamp – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Brendt Allmann – guitar, vocals
Chris Ingles – keyboards
Carl Cadden-James – bass guitar, flute, vocals
Joe Nevolo – drums
Production
Gary Wehrkamp
Track list
ACT III
1. Manhunt (2:07)
2. Comfort Me (6:49)
3. The Andromeda Strain (6:44)
4. Vow (8:25)
5. Birth of a Daughter (2:38)
6. Death of a Mother (2:13)
7. Lamentia (1:02)
ACT IV
8. Seven Years (3:35)
9. Dark (1:01)
10. Torn (8:21)
11. The Archer of Ben Salem (7:26)
12. Encrypted (7:59)
13. Room V (7:42)
14. Rain (8:59)
Total running time: 75:01
