James LaBrie
Impermanent Resonance

The voice of the grand masters of progressive metal (Dream Theater of course, what did you expect?) is back with a new solo album which is his fifth if you count the two he did as MullMuzzler. A man needing no introduction as his works with Dream Theater should be enough for most to know something of him. He is Canadian by the way. Imperfect Resonance is the name of the album and maybe it serves as a taster for an upcoming Dream Theater album, but if it does it would indicate a whole new different approach for Dream Theater. As before LaBrie has worked with Matt Guillory writing the songs of this new album.

The music on this album is a bit heavier than one would expect from knowing Dream Theater, it starts in an almost gothenburg death metal kind of way. It is diverse and heavy, but also melodic and very catchy. A very strong production, the sound is quite stunning in it being both heavy and melodic at the same time. The soundscape is very impressive, as is the vocal prowess of Mr LaBrie and that would come with a note saying he does a stunning vocal performance as expected. LaBrie to me is definitely one of the top singers in the metal genre and this clearly is very heavy metal with some strong melodies and progressive elements. Not much of LaBrie’s Dream Theater experience shines through here, I think he shows that he stands on his own legs with his solo work.

This is a very good album where the melodies are very strong and the songs are all of very high quality. I really like this album, sure it isn’t as good as the works by his main band but how could anyone expect something like that. It shows a great variety of songs and a full range of emotions throughout the album’s twelve tracks and almost fifty minutes of playing time. The limited edition album has two extra tracks and eight minutes more playing time. I have a hard time thinking out albums that are more hard-hitting than this one, and yet it maintains a strong catchiness.

There are a number of excellent tracks on this album where I think the one with the most forgetful name, Amnesia, is the best. But of course there are several more tracks that are worth mentioning like Undertow, the hard hitting opener Agony, I Will Not Go, Slight of Hand and more. I think all of the tracks on this album are really good, some are absolutely brilliant. It is definitely a great album that I can recommend to anyone into the heavy metal genre and all of its sub-genres. It is impressive. Strong music, powerful music, beautiful music, and catchy music all applies to this album. James LaBrie has along with his bandmates for this project created a very strong album.

Maybe not as good as the works from LaBrie’s main band but that does not detract from the fact that this album still is strong as hell. It is impressive, you should take a look at it.

HHHHHHH