Looks like it has sort of been marketed as a “metal” album. I just got it. I’m listening to it now, and while it is clearly heavily influenced by power metal (Lee has worked with power metal gods Rhapsody in the past), I probably wouldn’t call it straight up metal. It’s got a lot of long mellow sections, and a lot of spoken word. What it is, though, is awesome.
Anyone else heard it?
Interesting. Is any of it available online?
You can hear samples here. Unfortunately you don’t hear him in most of them - he’s only the samples from tracks 7, 9, and 11 as a singer and he speaks a bit on 13. This definitely isn’t my kind of music. Maybe I’d have liked it better if I heard more of him.
It’s a concept album, and they are never done any favors by samples (or even singles, a lot of times). It’s a narrative, and works a lot better if you can kick back and listen to it from beginning to end.
At the same time, if octogenarians singing foreboding ballads about the dark ages with power metal influences and a full backing orchestra isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, well, that’s understandable.
Act III is on YouTube. I definitely want to hear the entire album, but not badly enough to pay whatever they’re asking for it.
I haven’t heard this yet, but I loved Christopher Lee’s work with Rhapsody in the past. This is definitely going into my next CD order.