adg211288 Shadows Over Loathadruin is the debut full-length album by Italian progressive metal act Wind Rose, following a 2010 demo release of which all the songs have been included on Shadows Over Loathadruin. The album was released in 2012 and is a fantasy themed concept album, following a story by the band’s guitarist Claudio Falconcini.

The music of Shadows Over Loathadruin is highly symphonic progressive metal, which also draws on power metal in smaller amounts and even more rarely folksy melodies performed within the symphonic context. To reinforce the concept of the album Wind Rose have opted to go for the narration approach throughout the release, which ultimately also give it some qualities of a spoken word album. Unfortunately I find the use of the narration to be something of a hindrance to my overall enjoyment of the release, however this is not the main reason that I find Shadows Over Loathadruin a letdown after the 2010 demo.

The reason I am speaking of is that the album lacks consistency to my ears. While I enjoy the tracks from the demo same as I did before, particularly Oath To Betray and Led By Light it’s only really Close To The End, the album’s final track, that stands up to them out of the new material presented on Shadows Over Loathadruin. The rest is not bad, but it is unable to stand out as well as the tracks I’ve mentioned so when those tracks hit the ears, the flaws within the bulk of the album become quickly apparent, although I do also enjoy to a lesser extent the occasionally folk based Siderion and the more power metal fuelled moments like The Fourth Vanguard. Coupled with the admittedly not constant but still overuses narration this all makes most of the album vary between poorly realised conceptual interludes (six tracks don’t even clock in at one minute) and tracks that seem uninspired to these ears. A shame, because when Wind Rose does something to take note of, they do something that is really great. In some ways they remind me a more progressive Kamelot. They have pretty good musicianship and vocals, but they need to do that little bit more in order to give the album lasting value.

The few really good songs push it into above average territory but otherwise Shadows Over Loathadruin hasn’t been a very satisfactory release for me, although it is not an unpleasant listen as such. There is potential here though so hopefully they will improve down the line but ultimately this is a step down from a decent demo.

6.3/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org) on 04/09/2012)

dtguitarfan Wind Rose is an Italian Prog Metal band that started in 2007 as a Dream Theater, Symphony X, and Blind Guardian cover band. Along with these influences, the band also sites Turisas, Angra, Avantasia, Ensiferum, Adagio, Howard Shore, Fairyland, and Opeth as main influences.

Shadows Over Lothadruin is the first full length album (the band released a Demo EP in 2010) and is a concept album set in the fantasy land of Lothadruin. The album plays almost like a musical or rock opera, with narrative scenes in between many of the tracks, to aid the listener in understanding the story. The plot revolves around a young man named Meador, the son of a king named Hagan, who lives in the secret court of Gyalon. Their citadel is threatened by the shadow enemy, who is working to spread his shadow empire throughout the land. The king's brother, Garosh, had given the enemy information on a way into the hidden citadel of Gyalon, and the hero Meador saves himself and a few others, going on to raise an army to defeat the enemy and avenge his homeland.

Musically speaking, the album is a somewhat enigmatic combination of Symphonic, Power, and Progressive Metal, in a way that makes it hard to figure out which of the three this band would fit best in. Vocal harmonies, almost choral sounding, are prominent in the style. There is a cheese factor present that is somewhat typical of the three genres I mentioned above, but to me it seemed that this was presented in a way that made it endearing rather than off-putting – although I would critique (a small critique that seems minor to me) that the narrative cut scenes could've used better acting as I felt a little unconvinced in that area. Though the band did not list them as an influence, the combination of the music and story, and the way they were presented, reminded me of some of the Rhapsody (later to be renamed Rhapsody of Fire) concept albums. But the Progressive influences of Symphony X seem to be heavily present as well, especially in songs like "Majesty." This band has a very good sound, with a rich layer of the guitars and keyboards combined with the heavily harmonized vocals. And it seems there is great crossover appeal present with the Symphonic, Power, and Progressive elements that are scattered throughout the album, as well as some Celtic elements in some places. This is a wonderful debut that leaves me excited to see what this group will do next. And I cannot close out this review without at least mentioning the cover art – what a fantastically rich album cover that gives fuel to the imagination, complimenting the story told throughout the album quite well!

Originally written for www.seaoftranquility.org

prog61 I state that I am a fan and a musician of progressive rock, in fact I wrote reviews on "Prog Archives" since many years; in general I like Metal a little less, but I find very interesting the progressive parts of some metal bands. I know WIND ROSE because they live in my town, Pisa (yes, the one with the tower!), and I must say, despite being them basically a power metal band, this band has a very strong progressive component. I have heard from a few days this their first album and I loved it! I already knew the 3 tracks of their “Demo 2010” (Majesty, Oath to betray and Led by light), which are reproduced in the album with new arrangements: these three songs are definitely attractive, powerful and melodic, very well played and with breaks in pure progressive mold. In particular, the central parts of "Majesty" and "Led by light" (which is very different from the Demo) are really exciting. The rest of the album, based on a fantasy story, told through interludes narrated, has two power style songs, such as "Endless prophecy" and "IV vanguard", which are very good and imaginative, and a song in folk style, "Siderion", absolutely exceptional and innovative: in some ways reminds me of "E’ festa-Celebration" by PFM, but with a charge and a very impressive pace, and I think that this "Siderion" may represent a workhorse of the band in concert! No one could miss in the album some quieter and more melodic songs: "Son of a thousand nights" is a beautiful and very passionate ballad, with many references to Symphony X and a final poignant; "Moon-tear sanctuary" is instead an acoustic song, almost in Jethro Tull style, with an atmosphere and a melodic taste truly impressive. Then there's the epic finale, "Close to the end", which contains all the features of this band: melody, imagination and power. In short, a great debut for this young band (they are all in their twenties); they certainly have some things to improve, especially in some vocal parts and some guitar solos, but despite this, “Shadows over Lothadruin” is one of the most beautiful albums of recent times in the field of metal and beyond. 9,5 / 10