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DOMINICI - O3, A Trilogy - Part 2

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The name of Charles Dominici will perhaps not sound very familiar to you, but he was the lead singer on the debut album ‘When dream and day unite’ of Dream Theater. It will not be a surprise that a lot of comparisons can be made with the leading band of ‘progressive metal’. And yet this album is not just a carbon copy, there is a lot going on on O3, A Trilogy – Part 2, the successor of … indeed Part One. But what a difference between both albums, the first part was a completely acoustic album with Charlie on vocals, guitar and harmonica, the songs being more in the vein of Bruce Springsteen and Cat Stevens.

Dominici has appealed for this second part on the services of the musicians of Italian Solid Vision, therefore ‘progressive’ metal is the logical consequence. And the influences of Dream Theater become obvious from the very start, ‘The Monster’ is an instrumental track with all classical progmetal elements. Guitar player Brian Maillard has clearly been inspired by Petrucci and some guitar parts sound like Steve Morse. Some pleasant piano interludes give this track the necessary melodic twists to captivate the listener through the very end. In ‘Nowhere to hide’ we can judge the vocal qualities of Charlie Dominici, this guy has a nice but not very recognizable voice, many singers in the metal world have a comparable pitch, in the refrain I even hear the same voice as the lead singer of our own Ken’s Novel.

On a musical basis you may remind of bands like Vanden Plas and Symphony X, although there are certainly also influences from Metal bands from the eighties. You will not find any epics on this album, just some extended tracks with interesting guitar solos, especially on lead guitar. It is remarkable that many sound samples are used with now and then spoken parts, like ‘The great debate’. The story of 03 goes about a terrorist, making plans for a terrorist attack in the United States with chemical weapons, where have I heard this before?

In ‘Greed the evil seed’ there is surprisingly a fragment on acoustic guitar in an Iron Maiden and Metallica sounding track. Now and then the speed is getting down, but rather shortly, heavy guitars always being dominant, like in School of Pain, one of the best tracks of the album. The other musicians (bass, drums, keyboards) are also of excellent quality.

You can not call this album very innovative, all the ingredients of progressive metal are present, but it has been done in a professional way and fans of Dream Theater will love it. And I really want to now how the story with our terrorist and humanity ends, anxious to hear if there will be again a totally different musical style.
 

Musicians

Franke & Knockouts (1981) (with Franke & Knockouts)

When Dream and Day Unite (1989) (with Dream Theater )

O3 A trilogy Part One (2005)

O3 A trilogy Part Two (2007)

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Last updated: 20 mei 2007 .
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