MORGANA LEFAY - Grand Materia
June 17, 2005, 19 years ago
(Black Mark)
Back in fully large dramatic glory, after the debacle of having to shorten their name to Lefay for legal reasons, Evergrey’s brothers in progressive stutter-stop slamming also find themselves back on Black Mark. Five years have passed and this band has only gotten grander, here adding to the lyrics a bunch of prose Savatage-style, tackling the story of a 14th century alchemist who discovers the secret of immortality, the main aim of the alchemists (besides scamming for cash) – it’s a killer read; pair it up with Bruce’s The Chemical Wedding. Sonically, the band have opened up, almost too far, with gutty, gutted bass sounds, lots of loose, half-open high hats, cold, clacky bass drum… check out ‘Hollow’ for this strange, noisy production plan. It works on the faster numbers, but is a bit fatiguing on the moodier bits, exacerbated by the low, growly guitars reminiscent of mod-tilted Nevermore. Still, you get used to all this, and the separation of such diverse and cerebral parts is a bonus that falls out of it. However, the damn album would be worth the price of admission alone for Charles Rytkonen’s Oliva-on-steroids (or stairmaster) vocals, which offer rich, actorly dimension come ‘Only Endless Time Remains’, an upscale ballad about the unexpected anguish of living forever.
