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“The
Inner Dragon” is a concept album about a dwarf who wants to save his
people, including himself, from destruction.
It
starts off with an absolutely beautiful piano intro that sounds very
‘Wakemanian’. It’s as if the master himself is sitting behind the
piano. Even the concept – symphonic rock music, alternated with a
narrator – reminds me a lot of Wakemans Journey to the centre of
the earth.
Fantastic how well this album is set up. After having turned into
some by-paths, the clear main themes are faultlessly picked up
again, with brilliant guitar, synth and violin solos. Especially the
violin playing of Annie Morel gives this album a very particular
atmosphere with a Celtic touch. Not only technical perfection, but
also a lot of feeling puts its strong stamp on the music of Silver
Lining.
The
guitar solos of Michel Mourachko are of a high quality and ensure
you of pure enjoyment from time to time.
It’s
obvious that these musicians know how to play music. They made a
piece of work of more than sixty minutes in which the tracks flow
seamless into each other. As I already mentioned, the music reminds
me sometimes of Wakeman, although, most of the time, Eloy isn’t far
away.
There’s only one drawback and that’s the singer/narrator. First of
all, he’s a Frenchman singing in English, and although his accent is
fairly acceptable, you clearly hear he’s not singing in his maternal
language. Especially when he’s narrating, his intonation is very
weak and that makes them miss the chance to put the concept in
front. The story-line is poorly developed and isn’t always clear. He
sings rather weak. What he sings, is correct, but each time the
vocals appear – and luckily that’s not that often, because the
biggest part of this album is instrumental – the intensity drops. In
‘Lovestalgia’, the vocals are even really boring and the track is
only saved by the excellent instrumental achievements by the band
members.
But
don’t let this keep anyone from buying this record. Especially the
combination of the violin and the guitar, often is so fascinating
that it makes you forget the weak vocals within seconds. Reviewing
this album track by track would take too long and end up in an
aimless enumeration of superlatives. Just listen and enjoy the goose
bumps that appear on your arms and on the back of your neck...
If you like symphonic rock than this surely is an absolute must! |
