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░ ██ ██ Artist: Lee Abraham ██ ██
▓ █░░ ■█ Album: Black & White █■ ░░█
■ █▓▀ █ Year: 2009 █ ▀▓█ ░
█ ▓ Rel. Date: 2017-01-03 ▓ █
▒ ▒ Genre: Progressive Rock ▒ ▒
█▄ ░ Label: Festival Music ░ ▄█
░ █▄ ░ Source: CD ░ ▄█
░ █▓ Type: Album ▓█ ░
▓ █ Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo █ ░ ▓
▓ █ █ ░ ▓
▄ ■ ■ ▓ ■
░█ █░ ▀
█ Former Galahad bass player Lee Abraham is already █
█ in business solo for quite some time now but with █
█ his latest he has managed to produce something █
█ special. Not aware of his earlier material I'm █
█ contemplating to explore that as well... █
█ Starting with the intro track Speaking of Which █
█ Lee put us on the wrong foot one might say. █
█ Sounding symphonic and rather tame it suddenly █
█ turns really rough with first real song Face the █
█ Crowd. This proves we could put mr.Abaraham in the █
█ heavy prog subgenre just as well. On the other █
█ hand the music sounds pretty accessible which █
█ warrants the crossover choice very much in fact. █
█ After several minutes the song calms down and the █
█ acoustic guitar shows us we're dealing with more █
█ than one style for sure, even within one song. █
█ After a few seconds the song explodes again to █
█ return in the original fashion. Next up is The █
█ Mirror, by far my favorite track and one that has █
█ managed to climb up my personal all time stand █
█ outs. So that indicates Abraham is obviously █
█ pretty much my cup of tea. And it's remarkable █
█ this third track is the clear winner knowing I'm █
█ an epic devotee and the last two tracks are two █
█ very long songs and also very good epics which █
█ means The Mirror has to be truly outstanding to █
█ beat those two. And so it is. It's a very good █
█ composition and has a great build up saving the █
█ best for last with a blistering guitar solo █
█ blowing my mind completely. I hope he will make █
█ more of these in the future. █
█ The accompaning band of Lee Abraham features prog █
█ heroes like Gary Chandler (Jadis), John Mitchell █
█ (Arena, Frost* a.o.) Steve Thorne and Sean Filkins █
█ (Big Big Train a.o.) and fourth track Celebtrity █
█ Status is well lifted by Gary thanks to his great █
█ singing skills. The mentioned two epics finish the █
█ album off in superb style simply bringing me to █
█ one possible conclusion: Black and White is a █
█ great album, truly excellent in my book without █
█ doubt. The only slight warning I can think of is █
█ towards those who can only embrace the real █
█ progressive artists and albums. Lee Abraham is █
█ only semi-prog and therefore rightly placed in the █
█ crossover genre. This album is a mix of neo prog █
█ and heavy prog mostly and thus recommended to fans █
█ of those subgenres. █
▓ ▓
▒ ▒
░ 1. And Speaking of Which.. 2:31 ░
░ 2. Face the Crowd 6:23 ░
░ 3. The Mirror 8:25 ░
░ 4. Celebrity Status 5:21 ░
░ 5. Black 14:27 ░
░ 6. White 23:12 ░
░ 60:19 ░
░ ▒ ▒
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