SILENT EDGE – The Eyes Of The Shadow

Dutch prog band Silent Edge describe themselves as “constantly looking for the source of the inspiring silence.” Huh? If you look at the name of the band and try to figure out what a “silent edge” is, and try to figure out what the title of the debut release The Eyes of the Shadow means, then you will get a feeling that their purposefully confusing rhetoric puts them right at home in the field they choose to play in, progressive heavy metal, a sometimes pseudo-intellectual genre.

Whoever put together their media kit should be writing reviews for Metal Express themselves, with sentences like “the technical wizardry is perfectly balanced by spherical ballads and instrumental intermezzos.” In other words, they are good.

The Eyes of the Shadow (when did shadows get eyes?) starts off with a Dream Theater sounding song “Through Different Eyes.” If you like progressive metal, then this will be one of the best songs you’ve heard from a new band in quite a while. While the musicianship is solid, the song construction is heavy, fast and melodic, the ability of singer Willem Verwoert stands out here. From his soft falsetto to bellowing screams, he impresses. Verwoert has a very clean delivery, perfect for this type of metal.

You’ll wonder if Yngwie wrote the keyboard part to “Savage Symphony,” as the song begins with a classically inspired sound. Also, the guitar solos remind you of Yngwie (that’s a compliment), and the neo-classical atmosphere is strong here. Again, Verwoert shows he can definitely sing, and at the end when he screams, “it’s the savage symphony,” you’ll be impressed that he has such control of his range.

Since they are a progressive band, this means they have to write songs that are unduly intricate and lengthy. Their first stab at this comes with “Wasted Lands,” almost nine minutes long, and two other tracks — “For Ancient Times” and “Rebellion” — hit the nine-minute marker also. “Wasted Lands” has a catchy riff and some odd vocals, especially leading into their vaunted “intermezzos,” and loses its charm after about four minutes. This does let you know that they are complete musicians, though, and if you ever wanted a band that is the polar opposite of pop-punk bands that write three-minute hits, these are your guys.

The ballad “The Curse I Hold Within,” has a flowing melody from the acoustic guitar and poignant vocals. It would be a treat to hear this live, just Verwoert and guitarist Emo Suripatty and thousands of lighters held in the air. While this isn’t the best song on the disk (that has to go to “Savage Symphony”) it shows how great progressive music can be when done right.

The instrumental track “Crusades” offers some blazing guitars and the best drumming on the entire CD, although the drums are strong on every song. You will have more than your share of double-bass from Marco Kleinnibbelink, and it works.

Once you give this CD a listen, you may have a hard time recalling what you just heard. Not a real knock on the band, because while you are listening it does suck you in, but maybe what they are trying to do just doesn’t “click” until you give it a few spins. They end the CD with “Rebellion” and “Rebellion (The Awakening),” two songs with the same title but sound nothing alike. When it’s all said and done, if you stare into the eyes of the shadow and find the silent edge, then all things will be unveiled to you. In this case, it just takes a couple listens, but it’s worth the effort.