"Shadow Gallery"

1. "The Dance of Fools" (7:35)
2. "Darktown" (9:12)
3. "Mystified" (7:09)
4. "Questions at Hand" (6:54)
5. "The Final Hour" (5:06)
6. "Say Goodbye to the Morning" (6:50)
7. "The Queen of the City of Ice" (17:10)

Okay, I know I'm always dismissing these guys as yet another shameless Dream Theater clone, but on their debut album, they really don't sound like Dream Theater at all. (After all, it was recorded in 1991, long before Images & Words hit the scene.) In fact, I don't know what to compare them to here. The opening track sounds a helluva lot like Saga, but from there on, the style ranges all over the power/progressive spectrum. "Say Goodbye to the Morning" is a nearly "mainstream" arena anthem, while the obligatory 17-minute track is truly progressive...although it does build up to a peak that ultimately never gets resolved by the end, it just sorta peters out. Still, the worst thing I can say about this disc is that the production quality STINKS...portions of "Questions at Hand" are recorded at far lower volume than the rest of the album! It's currently out of print, but mebbe they'll do a remastered version someday...

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