Winter's Veil is the debut album from Green Cathedral, a new project comprised of members from the Philadelphia Art-Rock, Post-Punk, Prog, and Electronic Music scenes, including Lynnette Shelley (vocals), Mark S. Walsh (bass/vocals), Matthew Gambino (drums), and Dean Zigoris (Guitar) with Joe Paglia on keyboards and produced by Mark Montoro of Philly Jam Recording. Tom Theurer has since replaced Gambino on drums. All the musicians coming together from different musical backgrounds has given Winter's Veil an obvious varied palette to work with, from the opening Post-Punk styled "Don't Look Back", complete with catchy vocal hooks from Shelley and crisp guitar riffs that wouldn't have sounded out of place on one of the early Police records, to the clear nod to modern progressive rock on the vibrant "Maps of Ancient Sea Kings", the guitar work metallic and the keyboards vintage.
Shelley and Walsh provide a potent vocal team on the haunting "Crimson", complemented by sinewy bass, lilting guitar, Mellotron, and piano, while the gritty "Sea of Rust" sees hard rock and prog collide to pleasing results. Vocalist Shelley again shines on the majestic "Return to You" and the lush melodic prog of "Autumn", the latter featuring a tasty guitar solo from Zigoris. The closing title track is another nicely textured song, rich with acoustic guitars, piano, steady rhythms, synths, and perhaps Shelley's strongest vocal performance on the album.
In the end, Winter's Veil sits in an interesting place; it's perhaps too poppy for the prog crowd, and too proggy for mainstream pop fans, but that's its charm, and the band clearly knows it. A very fine debut indeed, and it will be fascinating to see what twists and turns this band head in from here.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing
1.
Don't Look Back 05:30
2.
Maps of Ancient Sea Kings 06:07
3.
Crimson 04:31
4.
Sea of Rust 05:13
5.
Drink 06:47
6.
Return To You 06:04
7.
Autumn 07:57
8.
Winter's Veil 08:10
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