Dream Theatre frontman James Labrie is a busy guy. Not only are the Prog giants releasing a new self-titled record this year, but the man has also found time to release a solo album. Impermanent Resonance (InsideOut) is Labrie’s third album under is own name, and fifth if you include is MullMuzzler days. With the exception of Wichers, the band, made up of Matt Guillory on Keyboards, Marco Sfogli & Peter Wichers (ex-Soilwork) on guitars, Ray Riendeau on bass and Peter Wildoer playing drums and contributing harsh vocals, are the same line-up as on Labrie’s previous solo outing, Static Impulse. And on the whole the two albums are very similar in sound and style.
Gone are the complex structures and winding epics of DT. Here we’re treated to straight ahead melodic metal. From opener ‘Agony’ through to closer ‘I Will Not Break’, the album is almost a mix of extremely melodic death married with pop sensibilities and electronic atmospherics. ‘Agony’ is a perfect example of Labrie’s solo sound. Opening with a shredding, winding riff and growled vocals, it quickly turns into a power metal chorus, marrying blast beats and lashings of synth before tearing into a solo. It’s a hectic start, followed by the more radio friendly ‘Undertow’, which swaps shredding for soaring super melodic pop metal.
Unfortunately we’re given more in the way of easy on the ear mid-tempo numbers that lay closer to pop than metal. They’re all incredibly catchy and enjoyable, and it’s easy to imagine this record being a commercial success with the right promotion. But throughout the rest of the album, there’s only two tracks in the same kind of heavy style as the opener, ‘I Got You’ and closer ‘I Will Not Break’. The rest are enjoyable and well-written, but there’s too many that err on the side of plodding and too few that get the adrenaline pumping. Labrie is full of memorable vocal hooks; it’s all soaring choruses and stadium anthems. The lyrics occasionally leave you sounding a bit uninspired; cheesy lines and stale metaphors seem even worse coming out of a guy associated with intelligent progressive rock in his day job. He makes them work within the song, but you thing he could have done better.
Though not as exciting as the opening track promised, Impermanent Resonance is full of well written tracks they play to the band’s strengths. ‘Say You’re Still Mine’ is the semi-acoustic ‘lighters up’ ballad, while the rest are almost all single-worthy, mixing big melodies and elements of progressive pop and electronics. The heavier moments are most satisfying, but there’s little wrong the album as a whole. It rocks, it soars, and if you like your music energetic and easily accessible, this will be right up your street. Impermanent Resonance is a decent, if unspectacular album. Labrie fanboys will lap it up, and it should keep Dream Theatre fans happy until their new album hits in September.
7/10
Dan Swinhoe