2013
Self Released
20 tracks
Mostly English Lyrics
 

I love a good story, if it’s delivered with good music, so much the better. And we occasionally find things like this in popular music, within a number of genres. Some of these are actually called “Rock Operas” or something similar. The first one I can recall was “Tommy” by the English band The Who. They even made a movie about it, and damned if Ann-Margret didn’t pay a lead role along with Oliver Reed with appearances by Elton John, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, Arthur Brown and Jack Nicholson, which certainly made the movie even better than the album. There haven’t been a lot since then, maybe Mindcrime by Queensryche being one of the few I really recall. Well, this is a Rock Opera, and a little larger than the other two, probably the largest in terms of length and participants I can recall. It tells a different kind of tale, and the artists aren’t as recognizable, but the music is no less worth the listen.

The guy in charge is Vlado Kormos, and he’s from . . . .New York? Well, he’s actually from Slovakia, but he now lives in New York. He talked to me a little about the release, “The theme is coming from my home town. A legend of a young peasant woman who helped the King flee before the Tatars in 13th century. But The Tale of Sabina is a fiction, inspired by that legend. I didn't want to do search for the historical facts, there is researched and known very little. I wanted create something my own, fantasy, magic...fairy tale and this was very good idea. Expanded by some historical local and national names, ancient name of national castles, etc.” The production is a large one, what you get with your purchase is a complete product, with two CDs and a full 30 page book that contains lyrics, a full recounting of the story, some great art work and details about the cast. Full listening time is about 85 minutes. And there’s some excellent listening to experience.

The story is really too long and involved to go into it in detail, we’ll talk about some of it as it relates to certain tracks of interest. But, what you need to keep in mind is, again, this is a BIG production; there are 11 people doing vocals with Vlado doing a narration. Beyond that, there are 7 listed musicians doing instrumental work and a 7 person choir. . . and some other folks doing things like editorial help, lyrics, graphics and serving tea.. But, that’s a lot of folks, a lot of music, and a lot of production. And, it wasn’t produced overnight. Original work was done in the 2000 – 2006 timeframe. However, the real production took place after Vlado met a singer with the promise to take the vocal lead, “When I met Cara L. Robinson /singer, writer, scriptwriter, theater enthusiastic/ in 2007, we recorded some Demo tunes, but her singing and the lyrics convinced me that the time is here...rock opera was born with Cara as a main character. Guitarist Vladimir Ouchakov was perfect match for the project with his style and melodic playing. The other musicians are session players. In 2008-09 we recorded 7 tunes and released Highlights CD, just to hear opinion of the critics. They wanted to hear whole project.” And that’s when production took off. The next task was to find singers to do the parts, and that required a lot of looking, there are a lot of parts. There were other obstacles to overcome as well, but, eventually, the project took form, and, today those efforts have been realized with results that can only be described as outstanding, both in terms of the story, the music and the entire work as presented.

The music covers a lot of individual styles, different vocalists present different interpretations to the music and each track seems to stand on its own while combining to create a singularly interesting epic musical presentation. But be aware, this is not all Femme Metal, there are a lot of tracks where male vocalists perform alone. In fact, I figure at least half the vocalists listed are male, but that’s hardly a problem, they’re all first rate. However, the main vocalist, Cara Lynn Robinson, does the main part, singing Sabina. Her voice is outstanding, as are all the vocals on this release. Same goes for the instrumental work. Much of it is not exactly what I would refer to as hard rock, however, there are tracks where that appears. Double Vision is one of those where you get the more typical sound, a beautiful vocal over a classical background. Others take a similar track, but with a more metal sound. Hard to be a Lady fits this description. As is often the case with these tracks, there is a heavy symphonic component, but there is sometimes a fine guitar based metal component that accompanies it.

The lyrics cut across a number of styles. We open with a monolog, done by Vlado. This one comes straight from the grave, Vlado may be a nice guy, he’s clearly a fine musician and a world class composer, but I don’t think I want to discuss existential philosophy in a dark room with the dude. I mean, if this ain’t Dracula himself then I’m a voting member of the Tea Party. He lays the groundwork for the story that follows and he does it in a way only certain voices can perform. From there we move in a variety of directions. Some tracks take that fine female lead, others, like Your Fellow Man go metal with a crunching male vocal over a solid metal framework. The lyrics amplify this sound:

I’ve seen the poor toil to an early grave
While wealthy men laid idle day after day
While they grow wide from wine and overeating
Another poor child wastes away

Hmmm, maybe ol’ Vlad knows something about the Tea Party too.

There is an occasional sidetrack into different and unusual directions. Masquerade is a song that prepares the good guys to go out and fight the evil horde. We’re told that this is a dance in anticipation of the war that is clearly on the horizon. There’s a little Warren Zevon to this one, maybe not as cynical, but the sound is there. As is the message. You can take a lot of this in more than one way, that’s the beauty of art like this. On this one we hear:

Everyone’s face is / decorated in this
Masquerade / There is no judgment
Based on looks / just a bright parade

How do you tell / a friend from foe
In this Masquerade / good thing we know
There are no foes / only friends we’ve made

Ahh, maybe there’s more to this than just a tale from the ancient past.

I hate to make it sound like there’s not some solid metal here, some sounds to stir the soul. I know there’s a lot of beautiful, especially with the female vocals. But, that’s not always the case. Tracks like The Curse give us pretty much everything we want in Femme Metal, solid female leads that take a back seat to no one, male vocals you can be really comfortable with, metal to drive the inner Goth and symphonics that drive that sound in truly comfortable directions, ain’a.

I think what we have here is something that can appeal to a really wide listening audience. You get male vocals that are outstanding, as well as a female lead that is equally strong. And, there are so many vocal styles there’s got to be something for everyone. You get some metal, a lot of symphonics, more than adequate production. And, beyond that you get a story. And this is the kind of story that seems to be more than a little popular these days. And this one is told with our style of music. Where’s the fookin’ downside?

We’re a little light on distribution at this point, but we’re working on that. And this is one that will be easy to move. It’s a solid product, good in so many ways. So keep your eyes out for it. New York never sounded better.

9.50 / 10

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