Author Topic: [Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit  (Read 3290 times)

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Offline Nick

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[Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
« on: March 21, 2012, 10:21:25 AM »
Band: Beyond the Bridge
Album: The Old Man and the Spirit
Year: 2012
Genre: Progressive Metal
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0065HDLN0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

   It’s one thing to get a quality product from a source you’d expect, but another entirely for one to seemingly pop out of nowhere. Beyond the Bridge managed to put forth a very good debut album, while showing great potential to put out even better albums in years to come. The band came out of the gate with not only a concept album, but one that pits a male and female lead vocalist against each other in an oddly unique way. Since “beauty and the beast” bands like Epica have become commonplace, it’s refreshing to see an album simply featuring two strong melodic voices taking turn at leads between and within songs, with the male lead playing the part of The Old Man, and the female playing The Spirit.

   The album features several excellent tracks, and between them they showcase a bit of the variety on the album. “World of Wonders” jumped out at me immediately as what might end up being the best ballad of 2012, and featured only soft and luscious vocals from Dilenya Mar. On the other hand the album opens with “The Call” featuring Herbie Langhans and is a little on the heavier side of the album. And then there is of course tracks like “The Old Man and the Spirit” which features both vocalists, and shows them taking turns at the microphone beautifully. That said it’s a tad ironic that my favorite track on the album happens to be the instrumental, “Triumph of Irreality”. While much of the rest of the album seems to serve as a background for the lyrical concept and dual vocalists, this track really shows what the musicians of the band can do. Not only is there a bit of technical flash thrown into the track, but fantastic melodies from both guitars and keyboards throughout the track.

   While the band certainly pushed the envelope lyrically and vocally I do think they could have pushed a little harder musically, and I think a slightly conservative effort on that front does seem to make the album lag a bit in the latter half. However the album is for the most part fantastic, especially for a debut, and the sounds a good bit better than one would expect from a band recording their first album. Buy this, and at very least you’re getting an album with an interesting concept and a lot of great vocal melodies from both sides of the gender war.

Nick's Rating: 9.5/10
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Offline Dr. DTVT

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Re: [Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2012, 11:35:32 AM »
FIRST!

j/k

Fantastic album though.  One of my top 3 albums from last year.
     

Offline Nick

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Re: [Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2012, 12:43:26 PM »
I don't know about Europe, but the American release was January 24th of this year.
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Offline Dr. DTVT

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Re: [Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2012, 07:12:27 PM »
Maybe I'm thinking of a different album's release date
     

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Re: [Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2012, 09:23:24 PM »
Damn you (as usual).

*must ... resisit .... *
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Offline wolfking

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Re: [Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2012, 07:18:33 PM »
I still need to order this one.
Everyone else, except Wolfking is wrong.

Offline Nick

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Re: [Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2012, 07:19:35 PM »
I do too, haven't actually seen a copy at a reasonable price yet.
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Offline Dr. DTVT

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Re: [Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2012, 04:20:57 PM »
I do too, haven't actually seen a copy at a reasonable price yet.

How did you review it then?  As for reasonable price, it was a normal price when I bought my copy.  You failing again Nick?
     

Offline Nick

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Re: [Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
« Reply #8 on: March 28, 2012, 08:27:18 PM »
Because a digital copy of the album was sent to me months before release to hopefully be reviewed. :p
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Offline wolfking

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Re: [Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2012, 08:31:21 PM »
I finally ordered this yesterday. Heard a track on youtube and it was fantastic.
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Offline guitarrero

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Re: [Music] Beyond the Bridge - The Old Man and the Spirit
« Reply #10 on: April 17, 2012, 04:41:49 PM »
i coincidentally met the bassplayer in Beyond the Bridge last saturday and since i already heard from various sources that this album rocks, i just bought a copy directly from him. And man, what can i say? I absolutely CAN'T STOP listening to it! Holy cow how good that is! Love both vocalists and all the dynamics songwriting-wise... fast, mellow, dramatic, joyful... everything's in it! So far definitely my favorite from 2012! (though Dreamscapes Everlight is pretty close behind 8) )
And their bassplayer is a very cool and likeable guy, too! I'd almost give it a 11/10 :D