#46 Lalu- Paint the Sky (2022)My relationship with French keyboardist Vivian Lalu began after coming across his first album, Oniric Metal, on a random Spotify rabbit hole, and deciding to review it. I reviewed his subsequent album, and did some editing for a story script for a still unfinished project of his. Needless to say, when he announced Paint the Sky was in production, I was elated, he has a special flavor of prog that digs deep with me. When he announced that one of my favorite vocalists, Damian Wilson, would be doing all the vocals and vocal melodies, I was floored. I knew this went from solid album to AOTY potential (which might still hold, but Nemophila has an album coming out in 3 weeks, so that hold is tenuous at best). Paint the Sky met all expectations, and then some. Lalu manages to produce a fiercely paced brand of metal that manages to be instrumentally intricate without losing the beautiful melodies that a lot of the more wankery prog bands to, for some reason, it's a sacrifice he manages to avoid to the great pleasure of it all. Damian is just outstanding on this, as I knew he would be. The core musicians besides Viv, Jelly Cardarelli on drums and Viv's usual partner in crime Joop Walters on guitar and bass, do the heavy lifting on this, along with a scattering of guests artists like Gary Wehrkamp, Jens Johansson, Marco Sfogli, Vik Shankar., Simone Mularoni, and our very own Jordan Rudess. For anyone who loves the more classic breed of prog and prog metal, this is a must listen.
Favorite tracks- Paint the Sky, Reset to Preset, The Chosen Ones
Unlike the last two submissions, this one is fully on all services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8TypXY-tJM