Talons - 'Hollow Realm' (Release Date: 15 Nov '10)
Opening with a simply monstrous track in 'St Mary Will Be The Death Of Us All', we hear everything we expect from Talons and more. With drama oozing from every note, this is the band that Muse should be - sophisticated and not overegged, perfect in every sense.
Sweeping the way through the album, and with it being purely instrumental its not my usual cup of tea, but there are some real stand out tracks. 'Impala' in particular is a very emotive piece, seemingly having the ability to start deep, dark and heavy gradually reaching a crescendo, nearly romping along towards the end.
In just eight songs Talons have created something that to be proud of, the nature of the songs takes you to another place. With the pieces being purely instrumental, at times the music does tend to feel like background music, and then every so often there is one little thing that pulls you back into the album.
The instrumental nature works so well within this as the tracks flow into one another superbly. There are no usual silences between tracks as you get every so often with a CD, and especially no change in paces between tracks as usually occurs on records. This, however, may be the downfall of this beautiful album. With functions such as shuffle it’s far too easy to miss the traditional feel of listening to an album from beginning to end.
Stand out tracks were opener 'St Mary Will Be The Death Of Us All', 'Peter Pan' (available for free download below) and album closer 'Hollow Depth'. The latter is a ten minute long mystical and magical piece, heavy, dark and brooding to a spectacular finish, leaving you wanting more.
DOWNLOAD: Talons - Peter Pan
Stream 'Hollow Realm' for free in its entirety in the above widget and available to purchase with add-ons at the Big Scary Monsters online shop.
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