Norwegians…a strange lot... always a little bit left of center. I've listened to a lot of genres, sub-genres & non-genres of music in my life and without any exception I've been able to tell if it was a Norwegian band trying to do something out of the ordinary. You see, they have a compulsive tendency of doing things a little different both musically and lyrically.
If you listen to a band and all of a sudden you have to smile cause they've used a sort of hard to explain dark & dry kind of humor in an otherwise deadly serious song lyric, it’s Norway speaking. These people have their own way of dealing with things & life in general.
The same can be said of the music: while their Scandinavian brothers & sisters in Sweden can't resist trying to make the sound as thick as they can, or try their best to copy their heroes, the Norwegians will always try to keep it at a high level of sheer honesty. They know where they come from and are not trying to hide it; roots firmly in place, as it were.
Anyway, here we have one of the latest additions in…eh…in what? Because this band, with a lot of different influences brought in by it's various members, were not capable of choosing between progmetal & melodic rock, as it seems, so they do both. The whole platter constantly balances between the more proggy side of things (like for example Dream Theater 10 years ago and a slice of Rush here & there) and pure melodic rock as played best by Magnum et all. Throw in some Helloween era ‘Keeper off…’ to complicate things further (opening song ‘Another Time’) and you’ll know what to expect.
I’m not good in describing separate songs, so I will not bore you to death with any of that, but one piece (the word ‘song’ actually doesn’t do it justice) I really want to emphasize here and that’s the absolute gem in the pack (and album closer) ‘Sail’. A magnificent, classy piece of work that evokes open fields, a shitload of trees on the horizon & wind blowing through them. About 4 minutes into the song there’s a short but very accurately played guitarsolo that made me think back of the ‘November Rain’ video (G’n’R) where Slash with a sudden bombastic touch plays the cobwebs out of your ears, all windy haired. Great stuff!
‘Nuff said, great musicians, great band, a little dry on the sound, but there’s that Norwegian thing again, so a recommendation to all. And this coming from a full blown sleaze rocker (myself, that is), need I say more?
…problem solved on the other side… (KVK)
 

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AORPOMPY (on 7/04/06) Nice surprise. It still has to grow a bit on me, but I can see there is some potential here.   AOR Ive (on 8/03/06) I bought this cd on the same day as I bought the Bloodbound cd and I honestly have to say that the Bloodbound album blew this one away . But I listened to the cd of Winterstrain a couple times more the last couple of days and it's for sure a very classy progressive metal album . It's not top class , but in time these guys can definitely belong to the Major League of progressive metal bands .   TomSawYa (on 24/02/06) So here it is, the first piece of art from the northern-most part of Norway. And this leads - surprise - already to the first statement about what the album is n o t: COLD ! Since I had heard some samples out of it before I was very tense about the whole thing. After listening over and over again I became more and more aware of how much heartfelt passion this piece of art contains. Passion about making music, crying out one´s feelings and saying thank you to their musical heroes. But they already have left the path and found their own way, no imitation, just sometimes reminiscing. Most important of all: Nyland and his band have something to say ! The lyrics and the deep thoughts around them, always so important to me, touched a string in my soul, which means, they really dig deep ! Isn´t the mirror an excellent symbol and path for any soulsearcher ? Thoughts about oneself, meaning of life, justice, the chaos theory ... they hit everyone of us from time to time. Oh, and the music ? Gives a bandwith that should enable fans of different genres to take care of it. Ballads, Riffs, Solos, Doublebass, spheric keys, speed changes ... you can have it all. Have to mention the singer´s ability to adjust his voice to each song in a way, a chameleon can adjust to nature´s colours. Beautiful. Looking at the (very nice) booklet, you can see 5 "regular guys", standing on the ground but having their "radar fix on the stars". Well, they get 5 from me. The sixth is missing to give them a future goal to: Return to the studio !!!   CL (on 23/02/06) Like I already wrote in my short review, I’m quite surprised by the quality of both the musicians and their song material (music and lyrics). These guys got a lot of help from Tony Mills (Shy) and I'm sure their tasty mix of progrock and classic melodic hard rock will appeal to a large audience.   Gordy (on 22/02/06) Excellent CD - this has been on my ipod for some time now and it shows no sign of being bumped off by anything new, because there seems to be more to discover every time you listen to it. The mixture of so many influences is very unique. Don't know if that is a Norwegian thing, but Norway sure spits out some great bands doesn't it? Do yourself a favour and buy this CD, and help spur this band on to make a 2nd album. The world needs music like this.   HIBA (on 22/02/06) I remember a phrase on the "Carved in stone" album by Shadow Gallery; "this albums a labour of love". Well that describes perfectly the feel of this album. Love of musci, friendship etc. I expected, well to be honest I didn't even know what to expect, but it turned out great !!! personal favs are Another day, Leon and the hauting sail !   cammy (on 21/02/06) Sail is a classic song. easily the best on the cd. Mountain inside the stone has a beat that drives along and has hooks all over the place. I really love the keyboards in here. Hard to put one band that they sound like, but in my opinion, Marillion mostly and even a touch of king diamond on the guitars at times. it's a really good cd   cradle1scot (on 20/02/06) I sure am happy Wolf. I honestly love this cd. Every song is so full of melody it's unreal. From the opening guitar riff on Another Time until the first guitar solo you can tell Arnulf knows how to shred a guitar. The keyboards are tremendous all the way throughout the cd. None more so than the utterly fantastic Sail. My favourite STILL is Leon. Wonderful all round musicianship and a chilling vocal performance near the end of the song. The Family Secret has outstanding guitar and bass playing in unison and Deenfan's double bass drumming on The Family Secret is quite simply stunning. A Battle for me is the song that rocks like hell with all the guys playing their skins out. Lyrically you will be hard to find a better song than Mountain Inside The Stone and what a catchy keyboard riff all the way through. Tony Mills adds wonderful backing vocals and enhances the product even more. Sail to end is just perfect. An amazing album which will keep prog/melodic metal rockers very happy indeed. WOW. Only draw back was the lack of support from Z, but don't let that detract from this wonderful piece of art.   WOLF 359 (on 20/02/06) Cradle will be pleased the album's finally here , great music from a band that will surely go on to bigger and better thing's , everyone should have a copy ( if they can find one ) .

 

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