THE DIFFERENCE - WHEN LIGHT UNCOVERS GREY
BATTLE CAT PRODUCTIONS
Metal To Infinity
After
the release of a few demo’s, Belgian based The Difference brought out their
debut, full length effort “Lost In Mass Confusion” back in 2004. The band
sent me a copy, I wrote the review… final conclusion after all – I was
heavily under the impression with the product and ended my review with a very
respected but well deserved, high rating! Being from Belgium myself, it feels
good to know we still have excellent bands to promote… for sure, one of those
‘very promising formations’ is without a doubt – The Difference!
It
lasted a couple of years for the follow up to “Lost In Mass Confusion” but
the wait is finally over… Metal To Infinity webzine proudly presents the
second album from The Difference entitled “When Light Uncovers Grey”
unleashed by Battle Cat Productions. Due to signing a deal with this label, The
Difference were asked to share the bill of Alcatraz Metal Festival 2009 along
with Metal giants like: Helstar, Testament, Saxon, Agent Steel, Ross The Boss,
Onslaught and others.
Well,
the new album has been recorded in the CCR Studios in Zulte – Belgium and
believe me on my word… the production is just great – a real pleasure to
listen at anyway! The amazing fantasy artwork is done by a Brazilian top artist
named Gustavo Sazes… please take look at the magnificent works he delivered so
far right at THIS
spot.
Eleven
songs on the song list of “When Light Covers Grey” – I’ve heard the
entire album a couple of times by now and have to mention that most of the songs
are very attractive having an adult character definitely. Songs build up with
the most of attention for technical details, nice guitar works coming on strong
in a very heavy and especially more groovy way than in past times. The
Difference’s singer still captives my complete attention due to his unique way
of acting. Former axeman Christophe De Bock stepped out of the core – he were
replaced by a young aged shredder, his name is Bram Van De Moortel and he
delivers nothing but the goods. Check the amazing instrumental ‘Inner
Turbulence’ and make up your own mind!
The
album actually opens with a short instrumental entitled ‘Confused’
proceeding into next ‘Into The Cold’ which is an amazing track including
real heavy guitars covered with brilliant tactics, catchy melodies and excellent
vocals very original to me! Also ‘The Attic’ takes you by the throat, again
with dark powered elements on board – fans of Nevermore / Communic will be
pleased with a song like this. ‘Dolor Aeturnus’ brings nearly three minutes
of shivering cold feelings… I dare to compare with early Katatonia elements -
dark feel is breathing down your neck! ‘Caught In The Middle’ – I hear a
band taking somekind of an experimental tour based on both vocal and musical
aspects… quite unexpected / surprising but still nice to hear! This one
differs from all previous songs from the band.
‘Delirious’
can please me to but if I can let my heart speak, next song ‘No Man’s
Land’ can be mentioned as ‘favourite one’ for sure. Great Power Metal
track with a top notch structure – I'm
sure with a song like this you can travel many roads straight to Heavy
Metal heaven so if one day someone approaches me to tell this ain’t right,
I’ll give him a one way ticket straight to hell instead! Well, who has ever
dare to think that a band like The Difference should bring out a song including
the use of a violin instrument? In any case, I wouldn’t but it’s a fact…
‘Contemplation’ is an instrumental using violin parts and sincerely, this is
a filler up to me. Too bad for me basically so I hoped that the last song
‘Buried In The Past’ would pick up my attention by playing some real Metal
stuff again and hell yeah, it did! Great melodic lines, awesome break in the
middle, as usual very good vocals… my hopes became reality so who’s the
lucky one here?!
Yes, I can end up with a very positive appraisal… The Difference takes a few unexpected, quite experimental inversions but globally seen I'm glad to hear that their natural born Power Metal identity still gets the upper hand. “When Light Uncovers Grey” – an album made for all Progressive Power Metal addicts definitely. Check them out via myspace at: http://www.myspace.com/differencemetal or http://www.the-difference.be/