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On disc: Silverlane



My Inner Demon - Mike Thompson - 9 stars


www.silverlane.org







My Inner Demon

My Inner Demon
(Drakkar - 2009)


Silverlane is the side-project of Subway To Sally drummer Simon Michael, featuring his sister Dodo on keyboards and brother Chris on guitar. The lineup is rounded out by the aptly named Ecki Singer, bassist Daniel Saffer and second guitarist Uli Holzermer. The band has actually been around since 1996, when Simon Michael was just eleven years old, under the name of The Rising Force, but that's enough of the history lesson.
Unlike the drummer's main band, Silverlane play melodic power metal in the style of fellow German bands such as Edguy and Silent Force. It is high quality, well-produced and catchy music as you would expect from this genre. Of course Silverlane aren't the best showcase for originality as there are a lot of bands playing this sort of music. However, playing music of this quality there are in my opinion only very few and I've already mentioned two of them.
My Inner Demon is a great album. There, I've said it. From start to finish its just catchy song after catchy song, ranging from the mid-paced rockers like Taste Of Sin to heavy tracks like Kingdom Of Sand and the stunningly beautiful, album-closing ballad Slowly.
Everything fits perfectly with Silverlane. The guitars are heavy and give the band real bite whilst Michael and Saffer keep the songs chugging along nicely. Dodo Schmitt's keyboards are phenomenal, adding great layers to the music without ever sounding over the top and Ecki Singer's vocals just bring the lyrics to life.
Singer has a great power metal voice. His high range is perhaps not as great as some of the power metal greats such as D.C. Cooper, but he has a great low range and is capable of adding some much need 'oomph' to tracks as well as being soft when the occasion calls for it. In some ways his voice reminds me of Freedom Call's Chris Bay as it is very 'happy' sounding, however he never allows himself to go over the top like the Freedom Call frontman is wont to do.
My Inner Demon is a joy to listen to again and again and I've loved it since the very first moment I heard it. Definitely one of the best albums released in 2009 and a stunning example of catchy, melodic power metal at its best.


9 stars

Mike Thompson
 

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