You never know what to expect from 'supergroups' (remember Asia?) but we expected a lot from Amaran's Plight, and thankfully the final product exceeds expectations.

Amaran's Plight was brought together under the Prog Rock Records label and features Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery) on guitars, keyboards and backing vocals, D.C. Cooper (Royal Hunt, Silent Force) on lead vocals, Nick D'Virgilio (Spock's Beard) on drums, and Kurt Barabas (Under the Sun) on bass. Michael Saddler gives a guest appearance on two songs - as he has on previous Prog RockRecords' albums - and the label's 'big-boss' Shawn Gordon lays down a keyboard solo for good measure .But the silent, unheralded member of Amaran's plight is John Crawford who we first met when he released a DVD containing an in-depth interview with Wehrkamp in what was meant to become a series called 'the shoot interviews'. Crawford developed the story for this concept album, wrote the lyrics, helped with the booklet's design, and was the album's musical director and executive producer.

Voice In The Light tells the story of a man who had a near death experience as a teenager during which he receives a message from the 'other side' and these events shape the rest of his turbulent life. It's a long, well-developed story, based on a Crawford novel.

D.C.Cooper has always been one of the industry's better singers, and his performance on Royal Hunt's Paradox remains one of the strongest examples of metal vocals in the past generation. This record benefits from his powerful singing and excellent control, but although he's very good technically, the delivery is also emotion-laden and easily draws you into the story.

Besides the vocals, the most obvious contributions are from Gary Wehrkamp. His rich guitar voicings and fluid fretwork are pleasing and he shifts seamlessly from electric to acoustic and back. And his keyboard work - particularly the elegant piano lines - contribute a sophisticated layer to the music. Wehrkamp also claims much of the music writing credit, so guess what band this music most closely resembles? Although it was interesting to note that Voice In The Light probably outshines the latest Shadow Gallery release. Think of this as symphonic progressive metal - although the 'metal' label is a bit of a stretch, perhaps 'hard-rock' would be a better description. The musicianship and songwriting are particularly strong and each song has richly textured sounds with multi part choruses and anthemic melodies giving it an almost AOR tone in places. There's a rock-operatic effect that again recalls Shadow Gallery's best albums, and gives credence to the story line.

There are occasional spoken voiceovers that advance the narrative. They don't stand the test of multiple replays, but they're brief enough not to detract from the overall quality of the record.

As you might expect, the standout tracks are the three epics "Incident at Haldeman's Lake", "Shattered Dreams" and the neo-classical closer "Revelation". These three tracks comprise half the CD's 78-minute playing time, and their restless structures and constantly developing themes will captivate most metal heads through many spins. Don't expect the most innovative music, though. This is well contained within the proverbial envelope - but it's so bloody well executed that it will find a captive audience in many segments of the progressive metal, the hard-rock, and the heavy metal fanbase.

Put it on the iPod while you're at the gym. It's that kind of music.