Beyond the Seventh Wave by Silhouette

This is a rare chance
to hear new music without
any biases.

Silhouette's album Beyond the Seventh Wave landed in my mailbox one day a couple of weeks ago completely unsolicited. In fact, I knew absolutely nothing about the band prior to receiving the CD.

So I decided to have a little fun with this. I would refrain from any and all research on the band, its members, or this album. Instead I would just listen and let my ears do the talking.

Prologue (2:32): OK, this sounds like it's contemporary progressive rock. Nice guitar solo layered over keyboards. Some wind instruments too.

Betrayed (1:42): No doubt. This is prog.

Web of Lies, Part I - The Vow (8:20): The mix is a little too light. Needs a bit more low end. Oh no, the vocals remind me of Al Yankovic. That's gonna be hard to get out of my head. If I had to guess, the vocalist is not a native English speaker; not in a bad way, but there's something in his annunciation.

Web of Lies, Part II - The Plot (4:31): Hits all the prog requisites.

In Solitary (6:16): Opening keyboard bit gives me a Tony Banks vibe. OK, this sounds like a concept album based on the story in the lyrics. It's hard to resist the urge to Google.

Escape (5:14): Ah, nice buzzy edge and pounding guitars to start this one. Nice build with keys. Probably my favorite track thus far.

Lost Paradise (10:19): Vocals and acoustic guitar to start. I'm wondering why the heavier tracks don't have vocals too.

Betrayed Again (1:25): Dang. Strong Genesis "Watcher of the Skies" sound.

Devil's Island (8:55): Al Yankovic is back. I knew I wouldn't forget that mental image. Speaking of images, I'm trying to figure out the significance of the butterfly on the cover which has been mentioned a couple of times in the lyrics.(Yes, I am looking at the CD's front and back covers but not reading any of the details or looking at the inside.)

Beyond the Seventh Wave (7:39): The title track ought to reveal something. This pulls together all the best bits of the other tracks - orchestration, keyboards, rumbling guitars. The bit with the violin gave me a Kansas flashback.

Wings to Fly (5:09): Just one more track and I can find out who these guys are. Drums sound kinda flat in this recording, especially the snare. Are they a new band with young folks? Prog vets come together for something new?

There's a lot of music on this album as you can tell from the track timings. And overall, this is a solid prog rock album. Admittedly, I haven't kept up with modern prog so I don't have a good basis for comparison. And therefore, I thank my mystery friend for sharing this fine bit of work.

And now, off to my Googling.

I received no compensation of any kind for this review. However, I did receive the CD at no cost.