Oracle - As Darkness Reigns (1993)
Do you guys know this one? I was dusting off some old stuff, and this CD came up. A few posts above we were talking about throat-shredding vocals - well, it's not too different here
The singer is actually very good when he doesn't go over-the-top screaming but, man, when he does, it's a little much (and they could probably lose some of the oh-oooh-ohs...)
This band was originally called Prodigy and had a demo - in fact, it sounds like this is just the demo re-published as the debut. As far as I know, this is the only thing they released. The sound is kinda raw, but there is some tasty US power-prog here. The riffage is great and pretty fierce, almost thrashy at times.
The whole thing is a tad exhausting in one sitting - everyone is playing with almost relentless intensity (that drummer is pounding pretty hard!) and the songs are long. There's a lot of soloing with classical influences, and the sweeps come from all over
Again, it's a little out of control sometimes, and they could all use some restraint (you can tell it's a demo - a well-recorded one, for sure, but a demo nonetheless)...I guess it was youthful exuberance...
Anyway, I've always had a fondness for this one and I enjoy it when I occasionally revisit it.
No streaming, but the album is here if you are curious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1a8WlRE-zQ(Looks like the singer passed away - RIP
)