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Mystery At the Dawn of a New Millennium (Unicorn Records, 2000)
Mystery, an art rock quartet from Quebec founded by guitarist Michel
St-Père in the late 80s, recorded three CDs for St-Père's Unicorn
Records since 1992, "Mystery" (1992), "Theatre of the Mind" (1996), and
"Destiny" (1998), the latter licensed to the French art rock label Musea
for distribution in Europe. During delays while working on new material
with a new lead vocalist in 2000, Mystery released At the Dawn of a
New Millennium, a compilation of songs from their three previous
CDs.
Mystery's sound combines 80s Yes style lead vocals with acoustic guitar
textures and crunchy, Fates Warning style guitars. The music recalls
ballad-driven arena rock like Journey, within a more prog metal style
instrumentation that features arpeggiated acoustic guitars, dual
electric guitar leads, and synth textures. "Theatre of the Mind"
alternates grandiose held chords under the vocal lines with a bland
light prog metal riff, while the outro riff in "Before the Dawn" climbs
in a predictable, scalar ascent. The dated guitar leads in "Black
Roses" and "Shadow of the Lake" showcase scalar passages, soaring dual
harmonies, and whammy bar dives. The classical guitar and flute in the
intro of "Black Roses" add a typical prog metal contrast. The effective
orchestration and arrangements lag underneath the plain and
unimaginative songwriting.
Occasional double time hard rock riffs break up the lugubrious ballad
sections that dominate all of the songs on Dawn, with the music
and lyrics primarily written Michel St-Père. The vapid and often
melodramatic lyrics deal with hackneyed themes such as lost love: "In
my dreams / we dance the night away" ("In my dreams"), and the musical
journey of a Mystery concert: "Soon we'll take you where / no one has
gone before" ("Theatre of the Mind").
At the Dawn of a New Millennium sounds crisp, without the glaring
sonic differences usually found on compilations that instantly mark the
tracks culled from different original records. The electric guitars
ring clear in the mix, placed among the synths and vocals, and the
acoustic and classical guitars ring clearly among flute and other
textures.
Mystery's pedantic style of ballad drenched arena rock may appeal to
fans of lighter, guitar based prog.
Reviewed by Scott Andrews [scottandrews@his.com]
More Info:
http://pages.infinit.net/mystery/
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