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The Greatest
Story Ever Told is told to us from when we are children, the story of
Jesus and the 12 Disciples. This story is handed down from mother to
son and father to daughter and generation to generation, but what if there
was more to the story that what we know? The Da Vinci Code has
always put speculation on the story of the last supper and now S.I.N. have
put together a story, together with German writer Ana Kugil, the story of
the 13th Apostle Julian.
The band have
enlisted the talents of not one but five vocalists to tell their story.
Firstly Patrick Simonsen who takes the part of Julian, Carsten ‘Lizard’
Schulz who takes the role of Jesus, Renee Walker who plays Junia Jesus’s
sister and Connie Andreszka as Judas and Boban Milojevic who adds backing
vocals.
This album is
not just a story but the music inspired by the story as the band build a
concept album that will take the whole Melodic Metal fraternity by storm.
This truly
massive album opens up with the ‘Prelude’ a gentle atmospheric keyboard
intro before the Orson Wells style narrative ‘Signs of Doubt’ then it’s
Melodic Metal all the way with ‘Awakening’ as Andler and Frank immerse you
into an album of Biblical Proportions with Simonsen opening his account as
Julian, as he listens to Jesus' sermon (sang by Schulz) on the mount and
realizes his future lies as a follower of this new rabbi. Along with
Schulz this sets the mood for the rest of the album.
‘Junia’s Eyes’
tells the story of how Julian met Jesus’ sister Junia and how she told him
that Jesus was looking for 12 disciples to follow him and tell of his work
and deeds. This one opens up with Simonsen and Walker singing an almost
gentle ballad opening, then things pick up with the rampaging guitars of
Frank and Andler, before the story is once again picked up with Walker and
Simonsen dueting throughout as the story unfolds with a flurry of huge
guitars and drums outlining the sub plot between the lines as Julian and Junia unite and become one.
‘Chosen Are Few’
is where Julian meets Jesus and finds out that the twelve have been chosen
as told in the scriptures so Julian has failed in his pursuit of his
destiny. The gentle flamenco guitars get this one underway, and then the
intensity increases as Simonsen and Schulz unite vocally on this one with
the soaring guitar work of Andler and Frank adding to the dynamics of the
track.
The intense
nature of this album only ignites the senses as the listener is drawn into
the story, the nature of the story, the love, the passion, the guilt, the
betrayal are all here in abundance. As the story continues with the
magnificent ‘In Your Darkest Hour’ this powerful emotional track is built
on the tremendous vocals of Simonsen as Julian, he tells of his devotion to
Christ as he follows him and his disciples into Jerusalem, always in the
background worshiping the man as his 13th Apostle, silent but
always by his side.
'The Faithful
Offer' is a narrative and choral piece that unfolds the story of Jesus’
betrayal. As Julian was dressed like the disciples and followed them
around he was
offered 30 pieces of silver by the chief priests to offer Jesus unto them,
but Julian ran away without saying a word, although this then set the wheels in
motion in his head and he began to think perhaps if there were to be a betrayer amongst the
twelve, then he may be in with a chance to become one of the chosen twelve.
As the story
unfolds this is where we come to the dramatic betrayal, but as this story
tells of a meeting between Julian and Judas, as Judas tells of how at the
last supper Jesus told Judas he would betray him. As Julian hears this tale
the only thing on his mind is becoming one of the disciples and so he plots
with Judas to drug the other disciples, so only he and Judas would be aware
of what was going to happen. In Julian’s mind the Son of God would free
himself from his captures but this wasn’t the case, so as Judas kissed his
master, instead of freeing himself, Jesus gave into his captures and
Julian saw his plan fail.
This dramatic
tail is told with some excellent guitar work once again and with some
moving vocals from both Simonson as Julian and Andreszka as Judas, who also
provides the excellent guitar solo on the track.
The gentle
soundings of ‘Tears of Gethsemane’ are a ballad with haunting female
backing vocals as well as Simonson’s excellent portrayal of Julian, this
one really stands out as one of the truly emotional tracks of the album.
The narrative
‘Failure’ tells of the how Julian looks upon the arrest of his master and
on seeing he doesn’t resist, comes to understand that his plan to become one of
the apostles has failed.
The plot
thickens with ‘For Eternity And Beyond’, a haunting and powerful track as Junia tells Julian of the betrayal by Judas, but Julian consumed with guilt
tells her it was he who betrayed her brother and he isn’t worthy of her
love. Again featuring some fine vocals by Simonson alongside the
strong female vocals of Walker and the tremendous backing of the rest of
the band, all make this one of the highlights of the album for me.
But picking
individual moments from this album doesn't do it justice, as each track tells
its own story whilst keeping in flow with the album.
The story
reaches its dramatic climax with ‘The 13th Apostle’ as Julian
faces Jesus' body on the cross and begs forgiveness for what he has done.
Sadly Jesus does not hear his words and his last sight on this world is of him
looking down upon Julian his betrayer.
The ending is
ranked up there with some of the most dramatic slices of Progressive Metal
I’ve heard with Schulz leading the way with his flawless vocals and
together with Simonson, they complete the story.
The ‘Circuit’ is
another narrative that acts as an epilogue to the whole album and tells of
how Junia became the first female apostle and how Julian disappeared from
history.
This is an album
that has to be heard in its entirety from beginning to end without breaks
and followed with the booklet notes as the story unfolds to fully appreciate
what S.I.N and their cast have put together. This is one of the finest
examples of a concept album you will ever hear, no matter what you believe
or what you have heard before. |
