History & Biography
Reviews TALAMASCA - ASCENSION - DCA
Fans of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles will recognize the Talamasca
moniker.
Born in America as early as 1994, Ascension is the band's second album
and
the follow-up to 1998's Projection. The quartet of singer Steve Gentz,
guitarist Andy Paredes, bassist Brad Schuler and drummer Matthew Lee
Belanger have played and self-produced a competent album. In fact,
musicians
will recognize the four to be very good musicians. Andy Parades is a
guitar
teacher and, similarly, drummer Belanger is a fellow music
instructor.
What is often lacking here is either flare or gusto. The band's mastery
of
the instrumentation has lulled the band into a safe haven where the
quartet
is content to remain domiciled within the well-accepted parameters of
its
genre. With most of the influence here drawn from Queensryche, Fates
Warning
and Sanctuary, the songs don't go the distance. The best song is The
Virtuous Man where the guitars see some lift-off, the vocals are more
energetic and an acoustic break helps with variety. The second-best is
Collective where the nice little leads help - incidentally something
the
band should incorporate given how fluid the few here are. The band, at
a
guess, is Christian in spirit and incorporates positive messages into
the
album. An unannounced Queensryche cover is tagged at the album's end.
Interviews
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