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Unsigned / Self-released
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 24.03.2016
Third Voice hails from Pittsburgh, about four to five hours west of Dangerdog HQ. The band has been circulating within the metal underground since at least their first album in 1998, Reflections, with another one four years later in Moments Like These. Then, nothing until now. Resurrected as a complete band, founders Jeff Kearney (Vocals) and Jason Pirone (Everything Else) are joined by drummer Tony Rossi and bassist Jeff Frankenstein (yeah, you read that right, like the monster). They offer their third album, A Day Like Today, which has six new songs and re-recordings of three previously released songs, although I don't know which they are. No information was supplied.
Generally, Third Voice plays a hybrid of melodic hard rock, infused with a metal edge and some progressive nuances. Most everything about this album is driven by multi-instrumentalist Jason Pirone who wrote all the lyrics and music, produced, recorded, and mixed the album, and played guitar, bass, and synths. I'm thinking the band should have been called The Jason Pirone Project. As for his arrangements, I would not call anything here overly technical. Pirone does not try to mesmerize you outrageous tempo and time signature changes. Rather, he truly attempts to build his music upon melodic and harmonic lines and, after that, build a cohesive song.
Yet, there's little doubt what does shine through, his extensive guitar wizardy. This album is loaded with some deft solos. I would suggest that the intention of every song is to get to that solo, and it's worth it. Yet, that conclusion skewers the aforementioned comments about song composition. So then, Third Voice and A Day Like Today is essentially reduced to a one-man, guitar-centered, band and album. Nothing wrong with that at all. It is what is. Aside from these things, Kearny has a strong voice, definitely singing melodic, but somehow seems out of place here. He always sounded like he was playing catch up to Pirone's arrangements.
Some mention should be made of the lyrical content of A Day Like Today, potentially some religious or spiritual theme, maybe Christian. The band members, in the liner notes, all make some mention of and thanks to God, Lord, or Creator. Which means about squat in this day and age. Without the mention of Jesus Christ, they could be talking about any god. And the lyrics themselves are rather vague and obtuse as well, appearing to have meaning only for Pirone rather than the listener.
By way of conclusion, I can honestly say I found the album somewhat interesting, notably the guitar work, yet it still kind of ran together. It's not that the songs didn't differ or have some variation, they just sounded the same. I'm thinking it was overarching tone of both the vocals and guitar lines. In the end, there was no song that really jumped out or stood out for me. Nevertheless, as I said about the latest Gracepoint album reviewed elsewhere, if you like a melodic progressive hard rock band and album which is primarily and significantly guitar-centered, you may like this album. Listen below and make your own decision.
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As I said about the latest Gracepoint album reviewed elsewhere, if you like a melodic progressive hard rock band and album which is primarily and significantly guitar-centered, you may like this album.
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