EVIL MASQUERADE - CD THIRD ACT

Popis - THIRD ACT:
Brilliant Progressive hard Edged Rock, Third Act offers everything from slow, Black Sabbath reminding tracks to really fast, neo-classical, Malmsteen inspired tunes Brilliant Melodic and progressive, fresh yet familiar sounding metal. NIGHTMARE RECORDS is gearing up for the EVIL MASQUERADE fourth album coming in 2008 and in doing so are going to release their third album to NORTH AMERICA and begin to build the bands presence here. Though this album was released in Europe and Japan in 2006, this album is ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT and has gone relatively unnoticed in our Territory says Nightmare owner Lance King. Here are a few review snippits from the European media (ROCK REPORT -Henrik Flyman, known for his work with Moahni Moahna and Wuthering Heights, and company. The disc largely exceeds its predecessors! Recorded at Jailhouse Studios by Tommy Hansen and Flyman himself with Apollo Papathanasio on vocals. Keyboards were done by guest musicians Richard Andersson (Space Odyssey, Time Requiem) and David Rosenthal (Rainbow, Whitesnake, Steve Vai, Red Dawn). The bands progress on this album is remarkable. Papathanasio voice is much more impressive and versatile than Brockmann and the song material is of a very high and constant level. NIGHTMARE RECORDS is gearing up for the EVIL MASQUERADE fourth album coming in 2008 and in doing so are going to release their third album to NORTH AMERICA and begin to build the bands presence here. Though this album was released in Europe and Japan in 2006, this album is ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT and has gone relatively unnoticed in our Territory says Nightmare owner Lance King. Here are a few review snippits from the European media (ROCK REPORT -Henrik Flyman, known for his work with Moahni Moahna and Wuthering Heights, and company. The disc largely exceeds its predecessors! Recorded at Jailhouse Studios by Tommy Hansen and Flyman himself with Apollo Papathanasio on vocals. Keyboards were done by guest musicians Richard Andersson (Space Odyssey, Time Requiem) and David Rosenthal (Rainbow, Whitesnake, Steve Vai, Red Dawn). The bands progress on this album is remarkable. Papathanasio voice is much more impressive and versatile than Brockmann and the song material is of a very high and constant level. Third Act offers everything from slow, Black Sabbath reminding tracks to really fast, neo-classical, Malmsteen inspired tunes Brilliant Melodic and progressive, fresh yet familiar sounding metal. REVIEW 1 TAKEN FROM MELODICROCK.COM Henrik Flyman – Guitar Apollo Papathanasio – Vocals Dennis Buhl - Drums Thor Jeppesen – Bass Special Guests: Richard Andersson - Keyboard (Track 2) David Rosenthal - Keyboard (Track 5) Evil Masquerade is back with their third album Third Act and the band has never sounded better. Third Act is a solid release of convincing songwriting and musicianship, wrapped up with a very good production. When bandleader and guitarist Henrik Flyman set out to compose the songs for this album he was determined to make it far beyond what Evil Masquerade had done before. To make sure he would succeed he actually composed music for two albums instead of just one. Album # 1 should be the official one to be released, and album # 2 would never leave the domains of his studio. This process took Henrik 5 months. Some lineup changes had been unavoidable for this third release. Bass player on a permanent basis is now Thor Jeppesen. He started out as a stand-in when his predecessor was busy with other commitments and did such a good job that he was the obvious one to ask when the band needed to move on. The most noticeable change comes in form of a new singer. The old singer had decided to make a solo career and that turned out to be in the best interest of the band also. When the situation was a fact Henrik wasted no time and immediately contacted Apollo Papathanasio (ex. Time Requiem). Henrik's old friend Richard Andersson (Time Requiem, Space Odyssey) had told him that Apollo no longer was in the lineup and that he might be up for the task. It wasn't long before Apollo was in the band and this turned out to be an interesting improvement of the Evil Masquerade sound. The vocal recording was a breeze and it became clear that Henrik and Apollo shared many of the same influences and ideas. They also turned out to be equally dedicated and indefatigable in a working situation, so it didn't take more than three days and nights in the studio to record vocals for the complete album. In accordance with Evil Masquerade tradition a couple of keyboardists were invited as special guests. Richard Andersson has been playing on the two previous releases and Third Act is no exception. New with the band is legendary David Rosenthal (Rainbow, Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Dream Theater, Whitesnake etc.). Both performed some amazing stuff on the new album and made the keyboard department shine like never before. Henrik Flyman who plays the guitars has also produced the album. The guitars fit every song as a glove and are never overplayed. We get heavy riffs, explosive leads, beautiful melodies, acoustic guitars and even some slide. The production is heavy and supports the music just right. Mixing and mastering credits goes to well-reputed Tommy Hansen (Helloween, Jorn, TNT, Evil Masquerade) and you can easily hear why he is in such high demand. With Third Act we get to see Evil Masquerade flourish and join the elite of melodic/progressive bands. But Henrik Flyman states: The journey has only begun! REVIEW 2 / ROCKREPORT.BE / 5 OF 6 POINTS neo-classical metal studio album 11 tracks - TT 44:28 release date: July 21, 2006 http://www.evilmasquerade.com http://www.escape-music.com power/heavy/other metal Before today, Danish band Evil Masquerade have released two quite ordinary albums on Frontiers Records. 'Welcome To The Show' (2004) nor 'Theatrical Madness' (2005) were successful in impressing me and it seems the people at Frontiers thought likewise as the band's deal was not prolonged. They might regret this though. Escape Music have picked them up and have just released 'Third Act', the originally titled third effort of Henrik Flyman, known for his work with Moahni Moahna and Wuthering Heights, and company. The disc largely exceeds its predecessors! That lots has changed in Evil Masquerade's line-up is not a coincidence in that respect, I think. Nor is the fact that Flyman actually wrote song material for two albums worth and in the end tumbled half of it in the dustbin. The better half was recorded at Jailhouse Studios by Tommy Hansen and Flyman himself with Apollo Papathanasio - who came to replace the wanting-to-go-solo Henrik Brockmann - on vocals, the familiar Dennis Buhl on drums and Thor Jeppesen, a colleague of Buhl in gothic metal band Sinphonia, on bass guitar. Keyboards were done by guest musicians Richard Andersson (Space Odyssey, Time Requiem) and David Rosenthal (Rainbow, Whitesnake, Steve Vai, Red Dawn). The band's progress on this album is really remarkable. Papathanasio's voice is much more impressive and versatile than Brockmann's and the song material is of a very high and constant level. 'Third Act' offers everything from slow, Black Sabbath reminding tracks as the magnificent 'Black Ravens Cry', 'Far Away' with its impressive vocals and 'I'll Make You Burn' to really fast, neo-classical, Malmsteen inspired tunes as the title track, the quite progressive 'The Dark Minstrel Plays' and the haunting, melodic 'Bring On The World'. I hope Evil Masquerade can lose the heavy burden of their older mediocre albums and that fans of high class neo-classical metal find the way to this 'Third Act' to help them in the process. They've got my support already! (SL) REVIEW 3 / POWERMETAL.DK Rating: 90/100 Cover artwork rating: 80/100 Reviewed by: Peter Laursen Date: July 15th 2006 One of my favorite Metal acts Evil Masquerade formed by band leader Henrik Flyman is back with their third album called “Third Act”. After the fantastic debut album, “Welcome to the Show” (2004) and the just as good, “Theatrical Madness” (2005), my expectations were very high to this brand new release. Are they fulfilled? –Yes they are. But I must admit that it took this album several spins in my CD-player before I was hooked. Okay, a few songs like, “Third Act”, “Black Ravens Cry” and “Descended from the Grave” did hit me right away, but songs like “Far Away”, “I’ll Make you Burn” and “Under the Surface of Water” was somehow a little different that what I was use to from Evil Masquerade. I found those three songs a little too slow and not above average at first, but after a while they opened up to me… and now I like the whole album a lot. There is just something about the music of Evil Masquerade… it makes me feel good. You find mid-tempo, up-tempo, melodic riffs and cool solos and catchy choruses, this is the recipe which works on “Third Act” so wonderfully. Nothing really remarkable has changed, and that's good. And again this is not exactly true… because there is a new man behind the microphone of Evil Masquerade… no other than the fantastic singer Apollo Papathanasio and he is doing a great job here on “Third Act”. But let’s not forget Thor Jeppesen (Bass) and Dennis Buhl (Drums). Splendid rhythm-section. At last but certainly not least… I tip my hat to bandleader Henrik Flyman, who once again has written powerful songs that hits just where it hurts. I hope that he will provide us with “Theatrical Metal” for years to come. Recommended tracks: “Third Act”, 'Black Ravens Cry”, “Descended from the Grave” and “The Final Goodbye”. Review taken from LORDS OF METAL / 91/100 One difference with the previous albums is the fact the band has a new vocalist. Former shouter Hendrik Brockmann choose for a solo career and it did not take long before the band found a new singer in Apollo Papathanasio. Band-leader Hendrik Flyman recently heard from his friend Richard Andersson from Time Requiem that his vocalist was not in the band anymore and maybe would be interested to continue his singing in Evil Masquerade. Not a bad choice in my opinion, this Apollo dude has a very wide vocal range and with much diversity he does a real good job in bringing a big deal of extra to the great compositions on this record. This is an album full of real musicianship; every instrumentalist knows exactly what to do make this an interesting album. They really know how to impress the listeners with their wise and intelligent instrumental mood-changes. The music is the kind of melodic progressive metal that could easily amaze the fans of this genre. And all this the band has put onto a disk with eleven classical strong songs and will never give you one dull moment. One big highlight is an awesome tune called 'I'll Make You Burn' reminding me lot of the better 'Black Sabbath' songs of the 'Headless Cross' period. Great riffs and great vocals, delicious guitar-solo and a fine driving rhythm. This album goes into the CD player of my car to give me good company as I am about to drive on the south of Germany to go to the Bang Your Head Festival. Well, the banging of my head can start as soon as I drive of and the new Evil Masquerade album will hit its first notes --LORDS OF METAL / Rating 91/100