STRANGE EVOCATION (E)

What if the new revelation of the progressive heavy metal was French? This is how the accompanying information by the Musea-label opens while introducing Cymoryl. They hail from Marseille and their debut is called Strange Evocation. They began as a cover band, back in 1996, with a musical range from Jimi Hendrix and Iron Maiden to... Yes. It's also stated that Dream Theater (DT) has been a major influence to create their 'own' sound. Singer Alain Puget is said to express himself like a real Englishman in Shakespeare's tongue. James LaBrie doesn't. I can only agree that DT is very obvious a source of inspriration because the album shows many similarities with the first two albums by DT. However, there are differences. The guitar is more dominant with Cymoryl and played by Jean Christophe Panza. Most of the keyboards - apart from the orchestrations - are pianosounds by Frédéric Allegre. The drums by Marc Santiago are not as prominent as Mike Portnoy's drum playing. The bass playing by Renaud Boyer​ isn't bad at all, but clearly of another dimension and class than John Myung and more 'standard' and pumping. Last but not least; in my opinion the voice of Puget can in no way be compared to that of James Labrie, but more with DT's first singer Charlie Dominici. Puget's voice is thinner than LaBrie's, with a somewhat higher pitch, a more limited reach, most certainly with a French accent and not to my liking at all. In spite of the overdubs on the vocals the sound remains very thin and gives me more than once the impression of the voice of a boy who's about to cry. As far as I'm concerned the guitars are far too much in the fore and all solos are played with an echoing sound which isn't to my taste. Some of the songs have abrupt and to my feeling unnatural endings, but these are the minor details. The lyrics were written by different members of the band and are well above the "I love you and you love me" level. There is no particular concept throughout the album. Strange Evocation in conclusion a third grade album than? No, not really. Do you remember DT's first album? Not too well produced either, so there's hope! And also with DT's first album the potential of the band could clearly be recognized. The eight tracks, together well over one hour of music, full of alterations in rhythm, atmosphere and full of many beautiful instrumental and rather complex parts proof that this band is talented, but they need proper guidance and a good producer who's not partly the guitar player of the band!

At this moment I can only suggest to consider to do the vocals in French or hire another vocalist and try to find melody lines that are less obvious based on Dream Theater's.