Review Bright Morning Star orchestra

You really hear what's the difference between the big and small bands when you listen to the classic albums the big bands have done. It has nothing to do with how good they are to make and write music or how good they are at their instruments, or how the songs are done. It's all in the production.

During about ten years, Metallica - the biggest hard rock band in the world - worked side by side with the producer Bob Rock and together they released six albums ('Metallica', 'Load', 'Reload', 'Garage Inc.' and 'St. Anger' as well as the live album 'S&M'). Regardless of what you like Metallica’s music on these albums it is impossible for anyone to not be knocked over by the sound that comes from the speakers. The instruments are unnecessary, the melodies are insignificant and the music itself is a bi product when the sound that comes from the speakers can catch you in a net and hit you with a sledgehammer with razor sharp edges. And it's seldom a cheap production from a small band can achieve that. They can be fantastic musicians and have amazing songs, but if the production lacks that striking feeling the album will do as well and not be fantastic.

Let's take this band, Bright Morning Star Orchestra as an example (since I have to review them anyway), when they recorded this album, they didn't have their label supporting them, or a good producer, or a studio worthy the name or real sound technicians that could mix and master the album. What they accomplished by their own seen to that fact, 'Lift Me Out' is a pretty good album, almost remarkable, but I can't help feeling somewhat disappointed because what I hear on this album could be absolutely fantastic if they've had help from the right kind of people. A crew that could have made this flat, almost greyish, sound push you backwards like the shock wave following a nuclear bomb going off and give you a more amazing feeling than the one experienced seated in a dragster that can take you from naught to 100 mph in less than a second and exceed 300 mph in a quarter mile. However, that's not the case here. The band has done the best they could but mostly themselves and what they've done is in many ways a really good album, but it's not enjoyable to listen to always.

The sound quality is poor, to say the least. Instruments doesn't come forth properly and the vocals are badly mixed, which makes them cut through your bones as it comes out of the speakers. And it doesn't suit the instruments either. Now, I can't imagine Anton Ericsson to have a voice this bad in real life when doing the high pitch notes, but the sound isn't really delivering the Rob Halford notes well. I do believe Bright Morning Star Orchestra could have been a pretty grand band, at least a somewhat grand band. The only thing holding them back is the sound.

Arriving at the ninth song on this album I just feel something is really wrong with this album. In Sweden we have this radio show that have a returning piece called Music cops (musikpolisen) where they compare songs that listeners think is suspiciously alike already existing songs. This feels like a certain convicted felony. In the video bellow I've chose the song I think they've plagiarised, which was an obvious choice as Bright Morning Star Orchestra haven't done a video of their own. This para-musician is a huge minus for the band. The next one comes from the song called 52 Days that feels like one of the worst songs I've heard this year. It's just so idiotic! This albums biggest plus is the melodies, according to me, but in this song they suck harder than to get kidney failure.

But as I've said, there are some good things with this rock album as well. It does offer some really nice songs and the favourite is the third of the lot, called Stone. The music sounds a bit like a mixture between Paris street musicians and an AOR-band. Somewhere in the foundation you're left with the feeling that you have heard it before, or at least I feel that, but without it being plagiarism... except for one or two songs. As i said above, I think the melodies are the best single thing with this album and the music flows well except for the odd couple of mistakes here and there that comes from doing the production themselves.

This album leaves me with mixed impression. In one hand we have a band plagiarising songs and puts their music out with a substandard production. In the other hand we have a band doing good music with good melodies. Overall I think it's a decent album but this band seriously needs to put all their money together for a proper producer for the next one and give it a production their music deserve. If they do, they can go anywhere with their music, but this album... I guess it have more ups than downs but if you ask me I'd say it's quite average.

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Bright Morning Star orchestra Lift Me Out

Bright Morning Star orchestra
Lift Me Out