Bazaar of Wonders

The band will compare their sound to that of Metallica, Disturbed, Stone Sour, and Dream Theater, and while that can be heard in the mix, the overall album is a potpourri of metal through the ages. Still, Starsoup’s Bazaar of Wonder’s is an album that I think gets a lot of its charm from its back story. While to late for me now, I think just listening to the album without reading up on the album’s process of creativity might have garnered a completely different review. 

 

So my first outing with the album and the first thing I can think of is that the first track sounds a bit dated. Think bands like Iron Maiden or Judas Priest where the mix of metal includes epic sounding guitars, moody atmospheric piano intros, and vocals that range from James Hetfield like snarls to the more dramatic vocal styles of the late 70’s early 80’s (sweeping guitar solos included). 

 

As the song moves on though it starts to take on a more current sound that makes more sense in the now. Still, when you go back and listen to the track without the surprises you’ll find a pretty awesome track that spearheads an interesting progressive rock album that features some pretty wicked songs that incorporate some interesting twists including the use of Saxophone and Flute.    

 

The album is a labor of love that began in 2011 and over the years brought dozens of musicians into the fold for its creative process. According to the notes for the album a lot of the music was composed even before the lyrics were formed. That’s an interesting concept for me, but in the end the album, lyrically, hits on several subjects such as sci-fi/fantasy concepts, politics, and the usual fuel that drives music all over the world; love, hate, self. 

 

The trip through this album was a bit biased for me, having read the notes on the album, as I said before, so it was interesting to hear the music, understand that the pool of talent for the album came from so many different places, and take into account the many style change ups. It sounds dated, it sounds current, it sounds timeless. It really was a journey that featured some pretty amazing guitar work, a massive blend of vocal styles, and some pretty interesting twists and turns from a somewhat unpredictable album. Well worth checking out. Enjoy.