Zero Gravity (Rebirth and Evolution)

I put off listening to this album for a long time because of the cover. Yeah, it's a really bad cover. I think the one thing that it communicates well is that this album is going to be epic. It also, unfortunately, gives the impression that the album won't be good. Is that a woman's head rising out of a strand of DNA? Does the woman have angel wings? Yes and yes.

But let's move past the cover. The music is good. Maybe even really good.

The first thing to know about Zero Gravity (Rebirth and Evolution) (my god what a title) is that it belongs to a genre of music that I wasn't familiar with called symphonic power metal. "Symphonic" because there is a choir and some string instruments, which add a sense of classical high drama. "Power metal" because, well, there really isn't much subtle in this music, is there? This album goes for the jugular.

Now, that's something I have said about quite a few albums, and I mean something a bit different here. Zero Gravity isn't angry or even particularly intense. Instead, it's excessive and kind of gaudy. Just like the cover! I guess that we did learn something from the cover after all. The album reminds me strongly of the 1980's, partly because of the excess, partly because of the choir singing in the background. It reminds me a bit of Phantom of the Opera? It's so melodramatic and tangles superficially with such big ideas.

I don't think that I am doing a good job of making this album sound good. Why should you listen to this? Because behind all the excess, there is a hidden intelligence holding it all together. The person who created this has bizarre taste, but I don't fully understand the message that he was trying to express, but damn it if he isn't smart. He can also put together a catchy melody. The album is also unusual. I can honestly say that I have never listened to anything like this. There are albums that I have liked quite a bit more that have surprised me much less.

All in all, it's not an album that changed my life, and the first half is better than the second half, but listening to it is a terrific use of time. Try "DNA (Demon and Angel)" and maybe figure out what that cover is about.