Some twenty years after their debut, Italian melodic symphonic act Secret Sphere are back with their ninth studio album. Very much at their heart is founder guitarist Aldo Lonobile, but with singer Michele Luppi (also currently serving as keyboardist and background vocalist for Whitesnake) coming on board in time for their 2012 release ‘Portrait Of A Dying Heart’, the band have changed so that there are also now some more progressive elements to their sound. Italy seems to produce many strong melodic rock bands, and Secret Sphere are very much in case point. This release highlights their skill in composing highly orchestrated songs and introducing their foray into a new age of heavy rock and metal music. High class songs with amazing choruses, big vocals, majestic orchestral arrangements, and amazing, mind-blowing, guitar heroics are the order of the day. ‘The Nature Of Time’ explores the "back to life" concept, an inward looking search of the self that can positively impact everyone's everyday life.
It is polished, and produced to within an inch of its life, and that is possibly the only really flaw for me, in that the band never breaks out of the self-imposed constraints, so that the spark is often missing. That can’t take away from some great performance and some wonderful songs with superb vocals, but it needs some additional vitality and forcefulness. Some will probably view this as a masterpiece, but I could do with something a little rawer.
