Sanity - Forgotten World

Year of Release: 1997
Label: DREG Records
Catalog Number: SNY297
Format: CD
Total Time: 48:26:00

This disc comes from a Swedish band (no mention of this in the CD insert), who play metal in the vein of Twilight and Lion's Share, although sometimes wandering into the realms of hard rock as well. The band pays homage on their CD insert to Dream Theater, Black Sabbath, Tad Morose and Lion's Share. I would imagine that this would have to do with thanks in other areas than in musical similarities except for Lion's Share, and maybe just a bit of Tad Morose. My ears are hearing some Twilight and Lion's Share for sure, with some hard rock structured songs thrown in as well.

THE STYLE:

As stated, I am hearing what is a cross between the style and similar sound to Twilight, which is a more heavy / power / melodic metal with dark tones, and some Lion's Share, maybe for the accessibility in some of the songs. Sanity never quite reaches the power or darkness of Twilight, nor do they reach the precision of Lion's Share, a band that relies on their precision as well as their accessibility. I hear the heavy guitars, and I hear the keyboards similar to those bands, but the song structures are what sets them all apart. Sanity strives for the more "commercialized" type music, aiming for the melodic, more straight ahead approach while trying to maintain some sense of heaviness throughout the disc. While they achieve this, they also venture off into the hard rock sounds of the 80s, as evidenced by their "Lovin' Tonight" song, in which the riffs are right out of the 80's hard rock era, with a chorus that reads, "are we gonna make some lovin tonight" ... A bit on the cheesy side, which the band visits a couple of times throughout the disc. The melodies are very straight forward, and probably won't appeal to hard core prog metal fans. This band will appeal more to power metal fans who like that nice heavy guitar sound matched with a thick drum sound giving this the heavy sound that accents the hard rock structured songs. Don't be surprised if you even hear some Lynch Mob showing up at times throughout this disc, musically and vocally.

THE BAND:

The complement of 2 guitar players, bass, drums, keyboards and separate vocalist makes up this band. No shredding guitar solos, no virtuosos, no extended jamming, just pretty basic song structures with a nice thick sound is what this band is after. There isn't mush separating the guitar identities, their sound is geared more to creating a thick layered sound rather than to try to establish each player's own role. No member stands out alone here, as the songs aren't structured in a way that showcases each individual's talents, but rather the band as a whole is united in creating that thick, rich sound I keep referring to. This band is directing their talents to the song writing dept than they are in showing off what they can do individually.

THE PRODUCTION:

I hear a thick, rich, almost suffocating production. I mean that in a pleasant way, because the sound is very clear, precise, and the word "thick" keeps popping into my head like a Tad Morose style. The guitars are very heavy, the bass is nice and low, and the keyboards are placed exactly in the mix, sort of as in the middle to accent the guitars, not to hide the keys in the mix. The drums sound exactly the way I like them to be, nice and forward, heavy, and the snare drum sounds BOOMY as it should be. I've always said that if one band can do it, then any band can do it. I just never understood why bands would want their drum sound to take a back seat to the rest of the music, as I feel that the drums are the "heartbeat" of the music, and should be heard and felt. Part of the thick sound I refer to here is the nice drum sound that they have captured. All of the other instruments are captured as cleanly, and they did a great job in the recording of the disc. I wouldn't put it quite at the level of a Twilight, or Tad Morose, but I have to say that it's just below a notch, and a tiny notch it is. The vocals are right out front, and it's easy to hear every word that the singer is saying, another treat that I wish every band would provide in their recordings. Overall, not much to complain about here in the recording dept; someone made sure that every part of this band should be heard, and succeeded in capturing a nice sound while doing so.

THE VOCALS:

If there is a weak part to this band, some will say it is the singer, depending on your taste in music. I say this because although he sounds like some of the more famous singers in metal, he also sounds like any number of singers from the 80's hard rock days as well. As I said, this band can get heavy, but they also venture off into hard rock land and the singer sounds like he is right out of that era. Tonally, he sounds like a cross between Anders Engberg (Twilight), and the singer from the Lynch Mob many years ago, although his name eludes me at the moment. His voice has the same tonal qualities as Anders Engberg, but not the power of Engberg, and on several attempts to reach higher octaves, that clearly shows. He has the bluesy quality that the Lynch Mob singer had, and if you didn't know what band this was when you heard some of these songs, you'd swear you were listening to the Lynch Mob, especially in some of the vocal harmonies. Overall, he has a pleasant mid-range tone, but he does have a bluesy quality to his approach, which will transport you instantly to those Mob days. He should be pleasing to most ears, except when he tries to move up in higher range levels, and then it is easy to hear his limitations. If you do not like that 80's Lynch Mob singer, then you will not like this singer, hands down.

THE COMMENTS:

This disc is 48:26 long. It had 6 songs on it, averaging 8:00 per song. I can't say that this is an essential disc, because it certainly is not. However, if you like the sound of some of the more established bands like Twilight, Lion's Share, Tad Morose, only played in a hard rockish sort of way with Lynch Mob style vocals, this is a decent listen. I didn't mention anything about the lyrics, but they deal mostly with true life situations, with titles like "The Right," "Lovin Tonight," "Roll The Dice," "Find The Way," you pretty much get the idea where these guys are lyrically. As I said, some of these songs venture off into the hard rock, cheesy era of the 80s, so use the Lynch Mob as a source of taste if you still can't figure out what this band is about. Overall, a good listen, although if you are looking for some heavy, crunchy, Tad Morose or Twilight power, look elsewhere; only the style and approach of those bands are found here, not the level of intensity.

Tracklisting:
The Right (8:57) / Lovin' Tonight (8:24) / Forgotten World (5:55) / Find the Way (6:27) / Lost Forever (8:03) / Roll the Dice (10:40)

Musicians:
Ola 'Knuda Wikstrom - vocals
Tommie 'Dawson' Karlsson - guitars
Kristofer 'Putte' Samuelsson - guitars
Tommy Rudak - keyboards
Vladde Labat - drums
Rickard Thornberg - bass

Discography:
Forgotten World (1997)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin SE

Added: July 25th 1999
Reviewer: Larry "LarryD" Daglieri

Hits: 3422
Language: english