Miriada - Illusion of love 4/5
Reviewed: 11-3-06
Tracklist:
1. Milky way
2. Life like dream
3. Not with me
4. Illusion of love
5. Your world
6. On another side of secret
7. Amusing dreams
8. The first snow
9. By night and by day (bonus track)
10. In the light of the lunar shadow (bonus track)
11. Breaking hearts (bonus track)
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Let's see, I'm reviewing a CD from a Russian band and the lyrics are in Russian. Big surprise right? The CD features both male and female vocals. Another surprise right? That's correct though... as I continue my search for excellent Russian bands, Miriada and their debut 'Illusion of love' cross my path and are immediately thrown into rotation. It's a CD I've liked from the first spin but quite frankly, 'Illusion of love' has gradually gotten better throughout the last 3 or 4 weeks. This occurence is similar to my experience with the first 2 Epidemia CDs, which are amazing but took a good amount of spins to really shine. In addition to this small instance of deja vu, Miriada is also in the same melodic power metal style of the first 2 Epidemia CDs, complete with keyboards, sweet guitar work and wonderful melodies.
Besides Epidemia, Miriada could also be compared to other Russian bands like Arda, Charizma, Decuman Wave and maybe Retriem. But for those unfamiliar with these bands, the popular Twilightning and Sonata Arctica are certainly good comparisons as well. As mentioned, both female and male vocals are present and they're of the clear variety, often times reminding me of the vocal situation of the fantastic Felony debut 'First works', and fans of that CD are urged to seek out 'Illusion of love' right away. Also worth mentioning is, as usual, I've listed both the CD title and tracklist as translated.
The CD starts out with the short intro "Milky way", then quickly hits us with track 2 "Life like dream" and track 3 "Not with me", both upbeat songs with a good dose of speed and spectacular guitar work. The lovely ballad "Illusion of love" follows, which contains a nice guitar solo and female vocals only. Track 5 "Your world" is definitely the highlight of the CD, as it's got such a fun and bouncy rhythm, sure to entertain all types of power metal fans. I also like the following track 6 "On another side of secret" since it's purely instrumental until almost 4 minutes into the song. Track 7 "Amusing dreams" brings us more speed, then track 8 "The first snow" greatly slows things down, as it's more of an atmospheric ballad type. The last 3 songs are bonus tracks, and I'm unable to research the booklet (I don't speak Russian) to confirm this, but I'm almost positive that track 10 "In the light of the lunar shadow" is some kind of cover/version of Skylark's "Moonlight shadow" from 'Fairytales'.
Finally, I want to emphasize that this is a pleasant CD with the focus being on melody instead of power. If you're more into heavier bands like Battleroar, Manticora, Nevermore, Paragon, Wizard (well, you get the idea), then Miriada will probably not be for you. As for me, this is another one of those situations where the right CD has fallen into the right hands and all I can say is that I'm loving Russian bands currently like I was loving Italian bands in the late 90s/early 2000s. Just like Sigma, Labyrinth and Highlord dominated my CD player back then... bands like Catharsis, Epidemia and Miriada are now doing the same.
CLINT
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