It's refreshing to hear old mixed with new and it is especially so when the mixing is done just right. STAGE OF REALITY seems to have hit that sweet spot and their first full-length album. “The Breathing Machine” is a wonderful blending of old school Metal vibes with a plethora of more modern influences.
The more classical side to all of this is pretty understandable as guitarist Andrea Neri's previous projects included and album with former IRON MAIDEN front man Blaze Bailey called “The King Of Metal” which received some very good reviews. This is exactly the kind of association that catches people’s attention and certainly lends a large amount of credence to Andrea's name.
[spoiler]The album opens with “The Breathing Machines” and this opening gambit has a distinctly RAMMSTEIN feel about it. The driving rhythms and industrial vocals build a good atmosphere and lend a hefty amount of darkness to the general timbre of these first moments of the album. I was getting ready for a fairly standard Metal album by the time the first song was over but boy was I wrong. The album jumps around between styles like someone suffering from DID that has had all of their medication replaced with very powerful LSD. “Shadows From The Past” kicks straight in with guitar work that could well have been pulled straight from the action sequence of any film starring Dolf Lundgrun. Two or three songs later and we're immersed in something that could have been the result of a very raunchy evening involving ENYA and DIO. Before your mind has had a chance to adjust to this rather bizarre and painful mental image, everything seems to get a little funked up and the RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS become the dominant sound. This kind of unpredictability is fantastic and as much as it may sound like chaos, it really makes the album unique and is done with such care and attention that it all just sounds natural.Add to all of this the fact that there are random synths thrown in throughout and you get the general idea. This is an album not for those that are looking for just one bland genre or concept. Rather this is an album for anyone that likes a little variety and can appreciate a little schizophrenia in their music and let's face it, who doesn't like a little bit of madness now and then?[/spoiler]
01. The Breathing Machines
02. Shadows from the Past
03. Good & Evil
04. The Lies Box
05. Five Senses
06. Grey Men
07. The Building
08. Mindless
09. Where Are We Going
10. The Next Generation
Stage Of Reality – The Breathing Machines (2014)
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