Shadow Gallery

I know I did a post on one of their albums a while back but I would like to do a thread on the band in general.

Shadow Gallery is one of my favortie bands ever since I first heard Tyranny which IMO ranks up with Images & Words as one of the best progressive metal albums. The debut is the only disc of theirs that I could not get into. The muisc just seems uninspired and quite frankly boring. They improved with Carved In Stone with two of my favorite songs (Crytaline Dream and Don't Ever Cry, Just remember). My only complaint is that for every real song there is a strange interlude (first song normal, second a interlude, third a normal song, fourth an interlude...and so on). Tyranny as I said was a masterpiece, nuff' said. Legacy was their next one and for me it wasa mixed blessing. The album is long but also short. The first five songs are superb and I can't say a cross word about them, but the last song is an epic and over 34 minutes long. This track would have been much better if they broke it down into shorter songs but as is, it is just way too long. Room V was the last one they did and it is the only one that, IMO, comes close to Tyranny. While some of the songs were interlude in nature, the real songs are just superb (as a matter of fact, if they replaced a few of the interludes with real songs, I would probably rank it as a tie with Tyranny).

For those who just don't like progressive metal because you think it is just has way too much wankery and showboating, I can honestly say that Shadow Gallery, for the most part, keeps it to a minimum. They are more song oriented than wankery oriented (their prog peers could learn a lesson or two about that).

Though i dont own any of there albums i have heard a lot played on Dementiaradio and those tracks were all good. I might have to check into them more

I really like the first album, but it's just not metal. If the production were better I would consider it a great pomp/prog album.
100% agree on the interludes issue though. I just can't get into any album of any genre that has interludes/dialogues/samples between every song. Even great albums like Manic Street Preachers "Holy Bible" and Royal Hunt "The Mission" get messed up that way for me.

I like what I've heard. However, I've only heard five tracks or so because their CDs are surprisingly hard to get a hold of over here.

SAHB Healer wrote:

I really like the first album, but it's just not metal. If the production were better I would consider it a great pomp/prog album.

You know, I think that is my main problem with the s/t debut. The production is pretty weak and by the time I heard this one I already had the three after which were metal, while the debut was not.

I really like this band but I thought Room V was to ballad-heavy. My favorite is Legacy.

Room V is excellent. Come to think of it, they are all great!

As I said, Room V, IMO, is the best one since Tyranny (and only by a fraction). The only thing that stops it from being as good as Tyranny is the instrumental and interlude tracks. The instrumental tracks are good, don't get me wrong, but being a guy who likes to sing I prefer Tyranny (almost every song is a sing along one for me-except for the two instrumental tracks obviously). What I do think is really cool about Room V is bassist Carl Cadden James singing the part of the Archer Of Ben Salem-that man can SING! I'm willing to bet that if Mike Baker was to go his separate way, Carl could easily take over vocal duties (CCJ can sing, play bass, play the flute, write, produce, and mix-God truly blessed this guy with talent).

I forgot to say what I also like about Shadow Gallery is that although they are not a Christian band, all the members are Christians. I first got into SG around the time I became a Christian and tried only to listen to Christan or Christian friendly bands (I still try to do that today for the most part) and since I knew the members were Christians I didn't get rid of any SG CDs (which at the time consited of Tyranny and Carved In Stone).

kmorg wrote:

Room V is excellent. Come to think of it, they are all great!

Totally agreed.

Totally agreed with DallasBlack on this band. Totally underrated albums, but I think this has more to do with them not being a touring band. Would love to see them in a live setting.

Room V and Tyranny are interchangeable as far being the best but the debut has one of my fave album covers of all time.

I've been seeing a lot of stuff about this band on peoples top 10 lists on other boards and I've been meaning to check em out. The only album I've heard about is Room V. How many discs are in their discography and what are the names?

Shadow Gallery has 5 releases plus a "best of".

Personally, I find find the "best of" seriously lacking because it doesn't include songs like "Crystalline Dream" or "Alaska".

My favorite disc by SC is Legacy which is where I'd start if I was someone just investigating this band.