Lion Music/Warner
Lion Music have announced their plans to rerelease the entire back catalogue of CONSORTIUM PROJECT, following their success with their recent, and final, album “Species”. This album dates back to the late 90´s, when Ian Parry wanted to do something new and ambitious. The project has become famous for having great musicians on board, and this was no exception. Or how about Patrick Rondat (ELEGY), Staphan Lill (Vanden Plas) and Thomas Youngblood (Kamelot) on guitars, Arjen Lucasen and Jan Bijlsma (VENGEANCE) on bass, and Dirk Bruinenberg (David Readman, Adagio, Fergie Frederiksen, among many others). And of cause Ian´s voice and keyboards on top of that. Let the story of the select few rising to power after the assassination of President Kennedy begin… and its consequences.
The sheer evenness of the material is impressive. I would also say that Ian´s voice had some shades of DIO back in the day as well. The concept works and the musical performance is almost faultless. I think the songs vary slightly in quality, but the title track is a masterpiece. Opener “House of Cards” also deserves a special mentioning, as well as the power ballad “A Miracle Is All We Need” and the movie score quality of “Chain of Fear”. For once my favorite is a bonus track, the sensitive acoustic version of “A Miracle Is All We Need”, featuring some blistering finger picking by Patrick Rondat. The downside is represented by the 80´s plastic horror feeling on the thunderous instrumental “The Entity”, feeling like a waste of musicians, or the pedestrian “Change Breeds Contempt”, a lackluster effort. But the material deserves another go at the prog fans, and Ian Parry deserves recognition for his ambitions.
Track List
House of Cards
Banquet for Thieves
Evilworld
Garden of Eden
The Entity (Instrumental)
Change Breeds Contempt
A Miracle Is All We Need
The Snake
Criminals & Kings
Chain of Fear
Pandora´s Box
Bonus Tracks
A Miracle Is All We Neeed (Acoustic Version)
Evilworld (Demo Version)
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