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Hardrock Haven - 7 march 2009
The Gift of Tears is the second full-length album from Dutch progressive metal act Ulysses, and the first from the band since bringing on new vocalist Michael Hos and bassist Casper Kroon. Ulysses has a sound reminiscent of Pain of Salvation (the old, good Pain of Salvation) that merges technical, intellectual and emotional elements into a fairly traditional progressive metal style. On paper, The Gift of Tears should be a winner. The members of Ulysses all display a high level of technical proficiency, the song structures allow for a fair amount of progressive metal pyrotechnics (particularly the 12-minute “How Much More” and the 15-minute “Anat”), and the lyrical content is both intelligent and emotional. Unfortunately the album never really seems to gel. The vocals, while solid, don’t match the music very well, and Hos seems to be trying too hard to replicate Daniel Gildenlow’s vocal style at times (see the title track). Greater use of melody or recurring musical elements might also have helped to tie the songs together and increase their impact on listeners. It’s probably not fair to compare The Gift of Tears to Pain of Salvation’s masterpiece Remedy Lane, but that does seem to be what the band was trying for here, and, sadly, they fall well short of the mark. Progressive metal devotees may be willing to overlook The Gift of Tears’ flaws in favor of its not inconsiderable attributes. Again, the musicianship is impressive, it’s got a solid metal crunch that a lot of prog rockers neglect, and it’s hard not to relate to the lyrics on some level. It’s just not an album that’s going to wow very many picky (and yes, jaded) progressive metal fans the way, say, the latest Suspyre album does By Justin Gaines Hardrock Haven |
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