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A look upon the cover will surely wake a lot of emotions in everyone of us. It is a scene of contrast and surely not a too nice moment in time that can be seen.
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| Michael Schinkel and his band open a new chapter in history with the "Man Or God" record. |
Such a album sleeve starts a interaction in me. What is it all about? Why is such a hard moment captured?
The music answers a lot of it. What you see is what you get this time. "Man Or God" comes with a sound that is very noble. It's a production with a lot of majestic melodies inside. Those are brought to life by the guitars and the keyboards along with the strong vocal performance by Marc Boals. It's all held together by the powerful drums and bass guitars surrounding these elements.
While the opener "Run" comes around as a speed metal song don't take this as a sign for the rest of the album. Most songs vary the tempo and they need this pattern to give room for the atmosphere the songs spread. The music breathes the topics of the lyrics, it's like you can feel them. I've heard the songs first before I picked up the detailed booklet. A good choice if you want to feel the music.
Associations of old Egyptian culture came to my mind. To me this album is a story of one of the well known rulers of the old civilization that builds the pyramids. He seems to recall his life before it comes to a end and the music reflects his time he spent with a lot of ups and downs.
The music varies in the running time of the album. Hard passages and silk one's go hand in hand and the vocals reflect the topic of each song intensively. Some songs are lighter (So strong so wrong) while other one's are harder to take (the title track). At any time the music demonstrates the power of the musicians and the full motivation to create something special for the listener.
The record is build by the compositions of Michael Schinkel and keyboarder Helmut Kohlpainter. Happily it's a balanced recording. All musicians count and contribute to the sound. The whole band gave it's power to bring these songs to life and this can be felt.
"Man Or God" comes with a booklet that let's you discover the lyrics and band members in a full album style. Together with the high quality Digipack It feels to me like a book holding a epic story. It's worth a purchase - you will be rewarded with lasting songs that can be listened to many, many times.
Just check out the stream below to find out if this album is something for you. A download or the Digipack release is available at the Bandcamp page of the band's label Fastball Music.
More information on Michael Schinkel's Eternal Flame are available at the official homepage of the band.
