Acid Rain: Shallow Paradise

Hailing from Argentina, Acid Rain have four albums to their credit, there most recent being Shallow Paradise, released this year. I first heard the band with their last album The Descending Line. While I liked that disc I feel the band's music has definitely matured.

The vocals of Sebastian Fernandez have vastly improved and while the music still maintains a heavy progressive metal edge, the band is able to inject a little more mood and atmosphere into these ten compositions.

Starting with the melodic "Inwards" and ending with the intensely heavy "A Way Out" featuring slightly harsher vocals bordering on growls, this band can play. The newest member of the band, guitarist Fernando Culen (replaced Mariano Revilla), is a talented musician and adds some interesting tones throughout. On "Violent Hill" he injects an Eastern element into the riffs while on the title track his melodic lead guitar is very nice.

The use of keyboards has also improved. The keys are more of a focal point and the orchestrations, while being quite subtle, add a certain amount of lushness to the overall sound. In the adventurous "Legion Of Liars" keyboards are used to accent the sound as well as a lead instrument augmenting the various tempo and mood changes, making this the most progressive song here.

Other notables include "Change", a melancholic ballad and "The Brightest Star" featuring tasty guitar and strong vocals.

This is a very good follow up to The Descending Line. I for one am looking forward to hearing what the band does next.

Track Listing:
1. Inwards
2. Violent Hill
3. Shallow Paradise
4. Legion Of Liars
5. Change
6. Lysergic
7. The Brightest Star
8. Crying Days
9. Far Away
10. A Way Out
Bonus Track:
Change (acoustic version)

Added: October 3rd 2011
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Official Site
Hits: 2133
Language: english

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