'Dark Passenger' is essential for fans of DragonForce, Gamma Ray and Astra.
Technology affords us opulence at every turn. The transduction of the analog world into a series of digits has been no more profound than within the music industry. Increased speed and capacity has grown exponentially, comfortably allowing musicians the ability to collaborate with people from around the world without ever leaving their own location.
This newfound (not to mention virtual) reality gives rise to the so-called project band which can loosely be defined as a series of musicians that, regardless of pedigree, are capable of creating fully-formed musical ideas without ever having played as a collective. Like most things, it sometimes works and other times, the resulting music sounds sterile and forced. However, it is with project band Starbynary where things get interesting.
As far as the members are concerned, their collective resume exceeds three decades of writing and performing Metal music. The core band consists of vocalist Joe Caggianelli (Derdian), guitarist Leo Giraldi (Trieste) and bassist Luigi Accardo (Cagliari). The ensemble for 'Dark Passenger' is rounded out by drummer Diego Ralli and none other than Mike LePond from the massively respected Progressive Metal band Symphony X.
The song-writing, musicianship and production are all of the highest calibre and deserving of accolades. '...Passenger' is a concept album based on the book, 'Darkly Dreaming Dexter' by Jeff Lindsay (and now TV series 'Dexter'). Not being familiar with either, I cannot comment as to the accuracy of setting the storyline to music. Regardless, the songs all stand on their own, with or without a common theme binding them together.
This is a seriously impressive debut that is required listening for both casual fans and aficionados of European Melodic Power Metal. The drumming is infectious, the melodies are majestic and each member is a commander of their own instrument. 'Dark Passenger' is essential for fans of DragonForce, Gamma Ray and Astra.
Brent Rusche
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