I was not the biggest fan of ‘Monochrome’, Sammary’s debut album, as at the time it was primarily the work of multi-instrumentalist Sammy Wahlandt along with three singers. One of those, Stella Inderweisen, is still here in the project which has now morphed into a band with Sammy just providing drums on this release, having been joined by Jörg Wahlandt (guitars), Julius Stapenhorst (bass), Marvin Kollmann (lead guitar), Ivan Khobta (synthesizers), and Benedikt Schadt (keyboards). There is also a synth solo by Adam Holzman and a guitar solo by Bruno Bolz. When I reviewed their debut, I said they were bringing in influences from the likes of Porcupine Tree, Radiohead, The Pineapple Thief, The Gathering and Within Temptation, and in many ways that is still true except this time around there is more edge and bite than previously.
One never knows where the music is going to lead in that the songs are at times quite different from each other and they can easily move to being quite heavy when the need arises, which does make this somewhat difficult to listen to at times as the only continuous thread are the wonderful vocals of Stella, who often appears to be singing almost half-heartedly with little in the way of force and strength. The result is something which is undoubtedly a step forward from the previous album, but still feels more like a project than a full band, with some songs feeling as if they are not fully formed and could have done with some judicious editing and more collaboration. This is actually an album I enjoyed less the more I played it, and normally it is very much the other way around but let us hope they keep progressing and with the next one produce something which fulfils the promise.
