Just
a few weeks ago, I heard a sample track of this CD.
Concerning the history of the band, I refer to my review “Arabesque:
Demo 2”. We
can find the four tracks from that demo on this CD “The Union”.
Seven more songs complete the full CD, each track containing approx.
7 minutes of music. The band has made a deal with the Finnish Lion Music
label, so the CD should be available in record shops by now.
Starting
with the intro, you'll notice the already substantial contribution of
keyboard player René Ubachs, besides his being responsible for the lion's
share of this production (helped by the other members of the band).
The
ingredients of this track are solid guitars, changes in tempo and smooth
vocals. In
"Haunted", Nicole treats us to a 'rapping' section ; at first, the
strongly distorted vocals made me think it was a man's voice.
After that we pass on to a beautiful guitar solo. But,
clever as they are, they even add "catchy" songs.
"Inner Voice", for instance, could easily reach the top on
BBC national radio.
This track, should they decide to make it their first CD single,
could even open the door to greater success.
"Naked" contains beautiful vocals, framed in a mid-tempo
and, halfway through the track, keyboard artist René plays a magnificent
intermezzo.
A strong item in Arabesque's music is the female vocals, but the
instrumental parts hold the attention.
"Instant daydream", a long track, is the perfect proof.
It's highly recommended for prog-fans.
Sparkling guitars, breaks, lots of keyboards and, at the right time,
a beautiful
‘jazz influenced’ guitar solo. "Heal
me" is a hymn, sung in a serene way, so one can recover one's breath
for a moment; just enough to go flat out for the pounding title track
"The Union" and "Emotions" with beautiful guitars.
It's remarkable that the female voices both have a different
'timbre', but when they sing together, they sound very homogeneous. Review by: Vera "Gothica" Translation by: Walter 'HaHa' Haentjens |
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The
first thing that strikes the attention is the fact that the band is not
“another gothic band with a few pretty female vocalists".