Silent Voices was founded in 1995 by guitarist Timo Kauppinen, bassist Pasi Kauppinen, drummer Jukka-Pekka Koivisto and keyboardist Henrik Klingenberg. At the time their main influences were Dream Theater and Rush. A couple of years later the line-up was completed when Michael Henneken joined in on vocals. They may have had a break for a little while (six years since the last album) but they are now back with their fourth full-length release. Henrik and Pasi are also members of Sonata Arctica, and instead of replacing Michael (who left after the last album) they have instead brought in some guests to help them out, so vocals on this album are provided by Mats Levén (Therion, Yngwie Malmsteen), Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica), Mike Vescera )Loudness, Yngwie Malmsteen, Obsession) and Mike DiMeo (Masterplan, Riot). To ensure that they got the sound right, it was mastered by Ted Jensen (Bon Jovi, Dream Theater, Megadeth).
The results is something that is progressive metal through and through, and will appeal to fans of both that genre and of those who want their metal to be melodic and hard hitting and may not normally think of prog as being their thing. The musical quartet behind this album have been playing together for years and it shows, as they trade runs and are tighter than a Mayan wall. The drum fills are wonderful, with real inventiveness that add to the overall sound without detracting from it, while Timo can surely shred with the best of them. Henrik has a very fluid style, moving between different sounds to get the best from each section of a song while Pasi can also take the lead when he wants to, but is often to be found at the back providing wonderful counterpoint to the main metallic proceedings.
Needless to say, with singers of this standard the overall result is nothing short of superb, and here we have a prog metal album that is probably more of the latter than the former, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing and here we have something that is hard hitting and fun throughout. If you haven’t come across this band before, and it has been a while since their last album to be fair, then you owe it to yours ears to get this now.
