Thanks to the internet the world is a much smaller place these days, but even I was taken a little aback when this turned up in the post recently. I live in NZ, the label that sent me the CD is Russian, and Bader Nana is from Lebanon who lives, works and has his own studio in Kuwait! This is pretty much a completely solo album, although he does have a couple of guests here and there, so it is somewhat surprising to hear an album that is extremely complex and sounds as if it was recorded by a full band. He is obviously influenced by Neal Morse (which is never a bad thing in my book) as well as Dream Theater and some Threshold, although he often doesn’t crunch out as much as the latter bands are prone to do.
It is an incredibly polished album, with loads of hooks and plenty going on to keep the listener both intrigued and interested. From the very first track to the last one is amazed that this is just one guy, and who would release as a debut an album loosely based on the European bubonic plague in the Dark Ages?!? This is definitely something that warrants further investigation and I for one will be looking for the next album when it comes out. There is nothing on the Mals site about this one yet, but I’m sure it will be there soon.
