THE SHADOW THEORY — Behind The Black Veil (review)

THE SHADOW THEORY — Behind The Black Veil album cover Album · 2010 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
bonnek
After putting Deadsoul Tribe to rest, Devon Graves announced Shadow Theory as his next project. The band, involving acclaimed musicians from Pain of Salvation, Complex7 and Threshold, leaves a much more professional and solid impression then the musically somewhat disappointing Deadsoul Tribe. So this is an album I really wanted to love a lot. Alas there are some problematic points for me.

The most problematic of all is that whatever Devon comes up with, it will always be inferior to the great Psychotic Waltz. That is no different here, and no matter how proficient the musicians are, the creative genius and uniqueness of Psychotic Waltz is entirely absent. The metal part of the songwriting is often based on old-school thrash-y riffing, and it sounds very uninspired and stale to me.

On top, Devon Graves has never been able to match the brilliant melodious vocal lines he used to come up with in the old days. Maybe it's because of the bland riffing, but whatever the cause, his melodies during the heavy parts sound very formulaic, and they are barely distinguishable from those of the other songs. It's only during a few quieter and more acoustic parts that he seems to find his melodic qualities. I would very much recommend him to record an acoustic album in the vein of Lunatic Soul.

"Behind The Black Veil" is an unremarkable album that will be quickly forgotten. It's not a disaster but it's still a disappointment. There are a couple of enjoyable moments but I've heard this type of music from Devon way too much by now. Don't get this until you got the complete Psychotic Waltz and Deadsoul Tribe's "Murder of Crows" and "Lullaby for the Devil".
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UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I actually enjoyed this one a lot. Nice dark ( King Diamond like) atmosphere. I always found the Deadsoul Tribe albums to be terribly formulaic, but this one is pretty varied and surprisingly good IMO.

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