Astral Doors

10/10

Exceptional album by another sublime German band, if you got this album in your hands you’re a fortunate person, really lucky, there aren’t copies from broken glass, anywhere!!! I expect that everybody listen and appreciate broken glass, this work is simply awesome, in PerfectProg Radio we play it; 67 minutes, contains eight songs, excel a 19 minutes masterpiece, the release date is of 1998, they made something incredibly progressive in those years, when I was listening what we found in America, emerges a talented top long play in Hotheim, Germany, fortunately for me the Internet and globalization develops and rises, thanks to this I could knew the music development around the world, in the last five years I have listening a lot of bands, of Europe the many most, and they made spectacular music, above Fates Warning and Dream Theater level, whom are considering the creators of progressive metal, of course FW and DT and other bands influenced the European progressive metal, but the musical education in the European people contributes in great part to they’re making the best music over the world, historically the great composers came from the old continent, this band besides Andromeda, Tomorrow’s Eve and Dynamic Lights surpass all ever made in America; Well, continuing with this prog metal treasure, the recording of the cd I own isn’t the adequate, they put on sale a second version, “a well recorded”, but doesn’t exist anywhere at this moment, is their best Crises work, all the songs are surprising, dissipates feeling, the musicians quality is high, they created an impressive metal, Ondrej Hurbanic, the guitarist is a musical genius, is the brain, very talented, he’s the composer of the music, also he’s a magnificent musician, great technique, he plays extraordinary solos and put a lot of sentiment in each song, the bassist Pavel Hurcik, awesome!!! shows why is a top bass player, sometimes captivating and sometimes strong and powerful, always magnificent, the drummer, Thomas Abts, make constant and great changes in the rhythm, also he’s so skilful and dexterity, the keyboardist Marko Brenzinger, creates amazing solos, fast scales and brilliant melodies and orchestrations, he’s a very important piece in this band, he create the music too and complements successfully the band’s work, the vocalist, Russell Grey, is pretty awesome, sings with a perfect feeling, possess great voice, a top singer, makes you shiver in the entire record.

Song by song:

Save me, starts with a broken glass effect, and then a guitar riff, drums and loud bass, then appears a keyboards orchestration, next, a fast guitar scale followed by a rhythmic drums, then appears the awesome voice, the bass is so notorious in all the lp, Pavel is an excellent musician; one more time, riffs by Ondrej, keys orchestration and progressive drums, at the 4:08 minutes appears a 25 seconds lapse, is a musical part, after 14 seconds appears the guitar solo, very creative, to end this song: Russell’s voice, what a singer!

The blame, begins with guitar harmonies, melodic keys, rhythmic drums and fantastic bass, next, great distortion by Hurbanic, keys orchestration along the song, sublime prog metal before the vocals begins, the lyrics are very captivating and the way that Russell sings is majestic, specially when he says …”I live, every moment again trying to forget, trying to forgive, all my pain, all my shame, you’ll never know the emptiness I feel”… is simply perfect, the entire song is full of rhythm changes, at the 5:20 musical part with keyboard solo, accompanied by guitar harmonies, drums and bass, followed by a great guitar solo, this is accompanied by spectacular bass and drums, and followed by keys, the majestic voice appears again, it seems Russell is really blameful, the end is incredible with the guitar spilling sentiment, followed by the bass and drums.

Am I awake, acoustic guitar and bass, followed by keyboard orchestration and Russell’s voice, then starts the bass and drums, Pavel is very talented, the chorus is repetitive, this song shows the Crises style, extraordinary guitar solo accompanied by a guitar distortion, Russell prints his wonderful voice along this song.

Descent to paradise, this is the masterpiece of 19 minutes, one of the greatest songs in music history, full of instrumental parts, guitar and keys solos, rhythms changes, impressive feeling, sentimental lyrics, heavy and acoustic harmonies, the perfect prog metal, this song got everything; The lyrics theme is about an older person (inspired in Russell's grandfather) that had some struggles, who was missing the love of his life who had already passed on before him, and their joyful reunion in heaven after he passed away, very tragic and moving; Ondrej Hurbanic plays seven solos; Marko the keyboardist plays two solos; They played four musical parts; there’s something they left to do? The song starts with a sound of the wind blowing, then appears acoustic guitar, keys sound (like flutes) and bass, suddenly begins a guitar distortion accompanied by the drums, bass and keys, next, the Crises experience start to come, incredible prog metal, then the heaviness is gone and everything is melancholic, sadness and sorrow in the Crises notes, the majestic voice of Russell appears, Pavel attach more feeling with every note played, the distortion is back, the sentiment is extremely deep, Russell’s grandeur is showed, the guitar distortion is awesome, the music is very progressive, the chorus are fantastic, at the 4:28 the first Ondrej solo, Thomas plays very progressive, at the 5:42 musical part with keys solo incredibly ended with a fast scale, Marko’s greatness, Russell’s feeling in his voice, at the 7;49 guitar solo, the bass plays exactly what the keys plays, acoustic guitars accompanied by the moving voice and followed by the bass, at the 10:11 musical part with guitar solo, at the 11:20 guitar solo again, but this time is followed by a majestic creation, is alike metropolis of DT, but this is much better, at the 13:25 another musical part, but now includes a Marko’s solo, unbelievable!!! Chorus again, At the 15:15 another Hurbanic’s solo followed very close by Pavel, Thomas and another guitar, at the 16:29 it seems it’s over, but another great guitar solo comes this time is followed by Thomas and Pavel, the farewell, Russell’s says goodbye, very emotive, the guitar solo at the 18:04, song ends like the beginning, in spite of every long song made.

The only one, Two guitars with acoustic sound followed by the hi hat, toms and cymbals, next, Russell’s voice, keyboards and keys orchestration, the rhythm of the drums is slow but very progressive, in this song you can listen with more clarity how Thomas plays the drums, the bass is clear, the feeling is in the entire record, Russell’s make his own chorus, mature metal, Hurbanic’s sensitive solo, the songs ends with great guitar riffs and keyboards.

In my sleep, bass and keys, drums and guitar harmonies, Russell appears, excellent how the bass and guitar play together, then appears the drums, guitar arpeggios, cymbals and keys, the sound of the tambourine is evident, Pavel’s work is perfect, the melodic guitar and keys at the same time sounds incredible, there’s a little cymbal, a little crash, he used frequently in the album, it makes a great sound, progressive guitar harmonies, Hurbanic’s solo again, ends with the guitar, hi hat and Russell’s voice.

Last candle, Powerful guitar riffs with amazing progressive drums, the bass sounds incredible, turn slow the music and Russell commence to sing with a grandeur, the drums turn fast and bass follows, Hurbanic’s appears again with a guitar sound like a clockwork, the changes in the rhythm are fast, Hurbanic’s harmony, great chorus, fast guitar solo, followed by Russell, next, fast guitar and then fast keys, all this accompanied incredibly by the bass and drums, at the 3:50 instrumental sequence, loud guitar harmonies, keys like piano, the amazing prog drums are back, fast changes, the keys still listening like piano, Pavel never stops, after a few words of Russell, Hurbanic’s wonderful solo, the progressive continues, the vocals appears again, the track ends with the Crises trademark, heavy harmonies, fast keys, bass and drums, fast and ultraprogressive.

Drops of rain, great ballad, begins with melodic keys accompanied by rhythmic bass and drums, Russell begins to sing, cymbals everywhere, first guitar solo, slow down the music and starts another guitar solo, this is longer, the attention is on the bassist, he makes his own work, Thomas follow both, ends with the keys.