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Artist: Gronholm |
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Once
again the musical magic box that is Scandinavia is the focus again, this
time it’s Finland’s Mika Grönholm with
his debut release ‘Eyewitness of Life’. Joining Mika are Status Minor
vocalist Markku Kuikka and drummer Tom Rask, with Grönholm handling
guitar, bass and synth duties himself, together the trio have
produced a triumphant album that rocks big style. The
album get's underway with the now customary intro ‘One
Minute Of Reality’, before it really gets going with ‘Awaited’ and
almost instantly Grönholm makes his presence
felt with some big guitar licks, while Kuikka powers through with some
great metal vocals. This is all interwoven with some background keyboards and a
fine back beat from Rask. There is an overall progressive element
throughout but it’s the metal guitar work of Grönholm
that keeps it firmly grounded as a metal
album. The
titanic metal opus continues with the massive ‘Fate & Belief’,
this one airs more on the Melodic Metal side with Kuikka bringing his
full range to this one. Then the tempo and mood is brought down to a
darker feel with ‘Life Is’, before the tempo is picked right back up
with the more virtuoso guitar orientated ‘Meet The Maker’. The
album wouldn’t be complete without a ballad or two and the first is
the excellent ‘You And Me’, the second in quick succession is
‘Misfortune-teller’. Again featuring a stirring guitar from Grönholm
mixed with the stunning vocals of Kuikka, both
of which really make these two tracks something rather special.
These two tracks are the perfect
introduction to the bands mellower side and lead nicely into one of my
favourite tracks off the album ‘Learn To Crawl’, a slow burner of a
track. The
album returns to the more progressive side of things with the title
track ‘Eyewitness Of Life’, before coming to a close in epic style with ‘Place
For Freedom’. A massive massive track to end on and one which brings
together everything that has gone before in one triumphant slice of
Progressive Metal. 'Eyewitness
Of Life' is a great introduction to this band who have that unique ability
to cross over between metal genres, making it a really refreshing listen. |
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Track
Listing: 01.
One Minute Of Reality,
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