Matt Cash: Vocals
Stephen Kernbach: Keyboards
Christian Becker: Bass
Eddie Marvin: Drums
Henning Pauly: Guitars, Banjo, additional bass, Keyboards and programming
Guests
Michael Sadler (Saga): Vocals
Mike Keneally: Vocals, Guitars
Sean Andrews: stunt bass on 9
Steve Katsikas (Little Atlas): Saxophone
Victoria Trevithick, Maya Haddi, Jody Ashworth, Edward Heppenstall: Vocals

In just a short period of time almost everyone knows the name Henning Pauly already. In two years time, the good man is responsible for no less than 4 albums and those are not the least! In 2003 I heard the first of them, the album Reconstruct, which he had recorded with Chain. This was a pleasant prog rock/metal album. Early 2004 he came back big with his Frameshift album, on which he worked together with James LaBrie (Dream Theater). In between he also released a solo album and now we hear from him again, with the follow up on Reconstruct, Chain.exe.

Besides the members of Chain, he invited some guests to make this album even bigger and better. As far as ‘bigger’ is concerned: with almost 80 minutes there isn’t much room for anymore music! The most prominent name we see, is Michael Sadler, vocalist of Saga. He too is in the spotlights with and a new Saga album and a solo album.

Once again, the album balances between prog rock and prog metal. The first song, ‘Cities’, is a true epic of close to 40 minutes and opens with the fattest riffs I have heard in a long time. The vocals here are of the highest level and Matt Cash proves to be a top vocalist! Most likely he is best vocalist of the past year. ‘Cities’ is packed with all elements that make a song so great to listen to. Besides thew already mentioned vocals, the guitar parts are amazing: tight, heavy and varied. Also the keyboards and the orchestrations all do their part in completing the total sound. In between there is an a-capella piece, which reminded me a lot of Savatage’s ‘Morphine Child’ (from the album Poets and Madmen).

But, also the other songs are rocksolid. The beautiful ‘She Looks Like You’ is a nice ballad, where Pauly gets away with adding heavy guitars to it, without it being annoying.

Another song that made an impression on me, is ‘Never Leave the Past’, because of the choir-like male vocals in the beginning. Top notch prog metal, with hats off to drummer Eddie Marvin, who steals the show here. ‘Last Chance to See’ is a totally different song: piano, banjo (no country, don’t worry) and the voice of Victoria Trevithick. After a minute or three, the rest of the band kicks in, with a fantastic guitar solo by Mike Keneally. This song is regular prog rock, but very good prog rock!

The album knows one odd song: ‘Hot to Cold’, a Saga cover, which is sung by the vocalist of Saga…yet it fits fine with the rest of the album.

Well, what else can I say? Chain.exe is just a great album, from start to finish! Henning Pauly is a very talented songwriter, guitarist and producer. In just two years he put Chain on the map as a very strong band, with two releases they can be very proud of.