ANOMALY-STRANGE LAND (INDEPENDENT)

A long time ago I reviewed a demo CD of the US band STRANGE LAND, and back then I already said that they could deliver an awesome release somewhere in the future. And now we're in the year 2002, and in front of me is the first full-length CD of this Wisconsin settled band. After hearing the first couple of minutes, I knew right away that I was listening to something really good. This STRANGE LAND has released an excellent melodic progressive rock/metal album in the style of ENCHANT, KAMELOT, VANDENPLAS, THRESHOLD, SHADOW GALLERY, 7 MONTHS… There are 12 tracks on the CD, which has a total playing length of almost 65 minutes! Especially the beginning features some excellent songs, such as "All things considered" (very nice melodies), "Unstuck" (a la VANDENPLAS), "Foundation" (lovely progressive melodic rockballad with great keys, chorus, melodic vocals, and the typical progressive instrumental parts, a bit like the independent band HARMONY PARK). There's not a single weak song on this CD, or it should be the slightly modern sounding "Fatal flaw", but even that song has a good melody (a la PAIN OF SALVATION). Other highlights are "Flight" (great straight-ahead uptempo progressive melodic rocker), "I don't know you anymore" (good progressive melodic metal a la THRESHOLD), "Injustice rising" (great progressive rock with excellent keyboardwork towards the end) and "Distorted grandeur" (another great uptempo progressive melodic rocker). This is a highly recommendable album, especially if you're into any of the mentioned high quality progressive rockbands. Check out more on STRANGE LAND at: http://www.strange-land.net and e-mail them at: strange-land@apexmail.com