Glad to be of service! "Room V" was in fact the first SG album I heard, the rest followed quickly after that! Our old friend, Allofmp3.com was instrumental in introducing me to many great bands I had never heard of, and Shadow Gallery were one of those, so their legacy lives on!
I actually thought originally that the plot of "Room V" was that of "V for Vendetta", since they took both their name, and the name for that album, from Alan Moore's excellent graphic novel, and a lot of the themes seemed to fit. It was only when I read the Wikipedia entry that I saw I was way off base. Oh well, it's still a good story, and like you I had no idea it followed on from "Tyranny". When I realised that, I felt that when reviewing "Room V" I would have to include "Tyranny" too, otherwise the story wouldn't make much sense. Think it was the first time I reviewed two albums at once.
Angra, I don't know, but will check them out soonest. Thanks for the tip, and glad you're enjoying the entries, even if they were written almost a year ago now.
DT have always left me cold, as you'll see if you scoot forward about eighty pages to my review of their latest album. Just never got them, sort of the same way I couldn't get into IQ, no matter how hard I tried. Spock's Beard were the same, but I'm slowly getting them. I wouldn't have considered SG and DT in the same bracket really, but as you say the debut is very weak; I seldom listen to that. It is however the only SG album that I was ever disappointed with. Have you heard their new (well, 2010) one, "Digital ghosts"?
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Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier
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Well I was surprised to see Shadow Gallery! I really like this band and they're without doubt one of the best prog metal bands around, whats even more amazing, is that I've never ever seen them mentioned in the rock & metal forum. Their debut album had some good stuff, but the band were finding their feet. Their second album Carved in Stone is a really good album but Tyranny is the band's masterpiece based on the albums that I've heard, every song is special and I especially love "Mystery". The band certainly don't get enough credit, with Dream Theater far too often stealing the plaudits from this style of softer prog metal. What's so great about Shadow Gallery, is at times they sound just like a metal band, other times just like a 70s prog act and other times like an 80s AOR act. I still need to listen to Room V and didn't realize the saga continued from Tyranny on there. Also was surprised to read that singer Mike Baker had died, a great loss.
Do you know Angra the Brazilian power metal band with progressive tendencies? If you don't know them, check them out as their second album Holy Land has similiarities with Tyranny and like Tyranny needs several listen to really appreciate. Tyranny is such a special album and not many albums can hold my attention for 70 odd minutes!
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