“..in
the beginning, there was God. Like all the creatures of the universe, God
had a place he called home.This place is Shakary, the center of the universe…” This
is how your visit to their homepage starts. (www.shakary.com)
The most important item that’s missing on their site, is a biography. So
let’s put a few bits and pieces together to know who and what Shakary
really is. They
originate from Switzerland and are considered by many as a side-project of
Clepsydra. This isn’t really true as it’s only Lele Hofmann and Guest
singer Aluisio Maggini (on “Alya”) who come from Clepsydra. Shakary is a
project, born from the experience of several bands and musicians like Scandy,
Lele Hofmann(ex-Clepsydra), Aluisio Maggini (Clepsydra) and Walter Calloni (ex-PFM). After
5 years of hard work, they released their first album in january 2000: the
double CD "Alya", which was very well received and got some good
reviews. Now
their second album has been released and they appear with a different band.
Well it’s not really a different band, but the same three original members,
with some musicians who joined the band and who are no longer guest
musicians as on “Alya”. (see above) The
most important change is the vocals. No more Maggini from Clepsydra, he has
been replaced by Michael Branzino.
And this gives them a new sound and make them sound less like Clepsydra. “Alya”
and “The Last Summer” are both produced by Mario Krag (now even a member
of Shakary), who also produced the last Clepsydra. (so you can’t ignore
the link between the two bands) I
won’t keep on comparing Shakary to Clepsydra, but you hear simularities. A
different voice, off course and the sound of the guitars has a rougher edge.
Don’t expect any metalsound. Let’s
compare the Clepsydra guitarsound to Pendragon and the Shakary guitarsound
to early Marillion. (I’m only comparing guitars, not the music) As
with so many bands from that region, he has an Italian accent. It isn’t as
bad as some other bands, but you can’t ignore it. Also the english lyrics
aren’t completely correct. (Don’t they have anyone over there to correct
them?) But as I said, I’ve heard worse. There
are some great progmoments on this CD. A progmoment for me, is when a
guitarsolo starts off, joined by a lot of other instruments, producing a
full sound, with which you can dream away and wish it would never end. There
is even a solo on bagpipes in “Sparkles In The Dark”, that sounds odd in
the beginning, but after a few listenings you start to like it very much.
The same for a trumpetsolo and a few pieces on flute. “Love
Warchild Of 64” starts with a very catchy riff on guitar and is joined by
a “Jordan Rudess” keyboard solo. An
excellent prog-album, that’s better than the previous one. “Alya”
should have been a single album like this one. It’s hard to for a new band
to start off with a double-CD and keep the audience interested for the whole
album. You also feel that there is a band this time and not a collection of
guest musicians. Especially
the guitarplay of Lele Hofman is wonderful and makes sure this CD will be in
several personal “best of the year” lists. Reviewed by : Danny 'Camil' Focke |
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