Shumaun
Memories & Intuition

The thing that strikes me first when I receive the mail about Shumaun’s new album Meories & Intuition is that it has a great looking cover, and that the cover is probably of something described as progressive. It is the third album by the band that was at first a solo project for Farhad Hossein, a solo project that have evolved into a regular band. And with this third album Hossain explains that he was looking to take them in an even more melodic direction, and he has also listed the help of several well-known drummers like Mark Zonder of Fates Warning and more. So, at first glance it seems quite exciting, but then I remember that Progressive rock/metal is usually just a label that they copy something that was progressive a long time ago, like Dream Theater or whatever.

They aren’t really progressive in regard that they make music that is forward-thinking, it is like so many other defined as it is music according to a format set by Dream Theater about three decades ago. There are several passages that reminds me a lot about Dream Theater, no problem in that as there are far less exciting bands to draw inspiration from. The music itself is quite modern, pretty technical, often with longer song, and the playing time is over an hour.

I don’t think they really pull off an hour, perhaps 45 minutes. The craftsmanship is good though, the singer is fine and the melodies often quite impressive. But this type of music with the more melodic and technical as well as complex approach is for the album format, and to pull that off you often need to shorten and discard more than you may really want as the artist. But artists have one relation to the word, the one that is to listen has another and no emotional connection from creating the stuff, hence the expression murder your darlings, they should have done some murdering to make this greater.

Shumaun has made a good album, there is no denying that and if you get it in the digital format you can trim it somewhat. With a good music tool you might even want to trim some of the longer songs a little bit. But perhaps I am just picking too much on an issue that isn’t much to care about in reality. You can of course still enjoy this album quite a bit, and fans of the Dream Theater-style of metal should certainly find this quite appealing, probably those that are fans of the other mentioned similar bands as well. It is obvious that the band masters the craft and are good craftsmen, I just wish that they would have dared a bit more – dare to throw away stuff and dare to think outside the box, what progressive music was about but that definition seems to have been lost somewhere.

So, check out Memories & Intuition if the similar bands appeal to you, if you aren’t into that kind of music this one will certainly not change your mind. In the end I think it is a fine album, and it is worth checking out before dismissing or approving it.

 

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