If perfect practice makes perfect, and if patience needs that same thing, then Kirk has revealed that in their follow-up CD Masquerade. According to a web site that has a profile of them, they “morphed into a powerful melodic hard rocking monster.” And Masquerade is one monster of a CD! But don’t fear this monster, because, with apologies to the witches in The Wizard of Oz, it’s a good one.
All of the melodic metal elements Kirk is known for are so crystal-clear, you can taste them. From the theatrics, such as the slow intro and the suspense and tension in both the music and the lyrics, such as in “Devil’s Claw,” the first track, “Eternity,” “Face in the Crowd” and “The End of the Universe,”; to the sound effects provided by keyboardist Bruno Bertger in “Fight or Die” and “Tragedy”; to the killer song titles that make the listener curious about what the song will sound like; to all the musicians getting a share in the intros (it’s not all about the guitarist); to Thomi Rauch’s poetic, almost-operatic, cryptic-sounding voice (he teetered on wearing his heart on his sleeve in “Nothing Else But Lies”), and you have a CD that has some honest and sincere heavy metal talent, which they play effortlessly.
Word tension credence is due to Rauch in “Fight or Die.” For those of you who have heard Stryper’s latest CD No More Hell to Pay, it may remind you of “Marching into Battle.” If Rauch studied anything in particular at The School of Rock, there’s no doubt it was vocal tension. He has that in every song!
Notice the vocal variety in the lead and back in “Time” (“Get lost!”). Very musically innovative instrumental break, too.
A line that stood out to me in “Devil’s Claw”: “liquid death is crawling through my veins.” In response to the “never-ending ride”: “every second of the night, I live another life.”
In “Masquerade,” the title track, the backup vocals in the first verse (“Every breath you take, it’s just one more till you rise…”) and the speed metal-style instrument break make this song. It’s not far-fetched to say they pulled out all the stops in everything about metal in just this one song! And you can’t not notice the head-banging guitar intro-a shout out to Sammy Lasagni.
Let me also give a shout out to Daniel Pfister and Phillip Eichenberger, respectively, for their bass and drum intro duet in “Nothing Else but Lies.”
To hear the more spiritual side of Kirk, give “Tragedy” and “The End of the Universe.” For the former, notice the killer intro and instrumental break.
“Face in the Crowd” and “Fallen Angel” both have old-school metal elements, subtle, nonetheless obvious to the trained ear for hard rock music.
If these guys graduated magna cum laude from The School of Rock, Mr. Schneebly would be proud!
Julia Pope, HMS
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