03 A Trilogy - Part 3 concludes the trilogy (or does it? you be the judge) started a few years ago by former Dream Theater singer Charlie Dominici and his band. Lyrically, this is some pretty intense stuff, as main character Detective Anthony Dam is thrust into what has become the next World War, and he soon sees Angels sent by our creator destroy the whole human race, leaving him as the only survivor and essentially becoming the next 'Adam' for which mankind will be rebuilt from. To help weave this saga, Dominici have put together another relentless juggernaut of crushing progressive metal, guitar phenom Brian Maillard and keyboard whiz Americo Rigoldi leading the charge with a furious display of complex riffery and symphonic elements. Rhythmically, drummer Yan Maillard and bassist Riccardo Atzeni also shine, providing the solid bottom end that this style of metal needs while also displaying some tricky chops. What can you say about Charlie? They guy can still sing, and considering that he was away from the scene for many years until recently, this veteran gets his voice up into the upper registers on tunes like "So Help Me God", "Liquid Lightning", and "King of Terror", displaying a unique touch that could teach many a much younger singer a lesson in how to vary tones to help fit the song, not control it.
For the most part, the action is pretty heavy throughout 03 A Trilogy - Part 3, and the arrangements at times get fairly complex, with tunes like the 10 -minute "Enemies Of God " , "March Into Hell", "Hell On Earth" and the closing epic "Genesis" (which will have fans of the early Dream Theater albums jumping for joy!) filled with intricate guitar and keyboard passages that rival some of the best acts in the prog-metal genre. That is probably what sticks out the most here, the fact that Dominici is still a new band for the most part, yet these group of youngsters that Charlie has assembled play like a band that has decades of seasoning. Guitarist Maillard especially is a monster player, his style firmly rooted in the Petrucci/Romeo camp, but because he injects plenty of his own personality into his playing he's going to be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come. If you love guitar and keyboard duels, there's plenty of them here between Maillard and Rigoldi, so strap yourself in and get ready for a wild ride.
Whether Charlie has done this on purpose or not, what he's managed to do on these last two Dominici releases is take the Dream Theater style (musically anyway) from When Dream and Day Unite, Images and Words, and Awake, and continued on with it, something Dream Theater themselves kind of drifted away from. On top of that he's given us a dramatic lyrical storyline to follow along with, resulting in some very compelling progressive metal. Now that they've got these concept pieces out of the way, let's see where they go next. I for one would love to see them take this whole saga to the road, but time will tell.
Track Listing
1. King Of Terror
2. March Into Hell
3. So Help Me God
4. Liquid Lightning
5. Enemies Of God
6. Revelation
7. Hell On Earth
8. Genesis
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