Recent Reviews

November 2024

October 2024

September 2024

August 2024

[ More Music Reviews ]


Master Of Ceremony: Signs Of Wings
Sascha Paeth's Masters Of Ceremony - Signs Of Wings Music Review

Master Of Ceremony: Signs Of Wings

Modern Heavy/Power Metal
3.0/5.0

Facebook
Frontiers Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 04.09.2019 | Released: 13.09.2019

We all know Sascha Paeth. Multi-instrumentalist, especially handy with a guitar. Producer and engineer. Mixing and mastering. He's a studio guru. Then there's all those bands Paeth has worked with, too many to mention really. Okay. Let's mention a few. Avantasia and Edguy, After Forever and Epica, Kamelot and Rhapsody Of Fire. You can probably round off the count to 100K bands, give or take a thousand. Now the musical wizard steps into his own project, Sascha Paeth's Masters Of Ceremony and their debut album, Signs Of Wings. His band features American vocalist Adrienne Cowan from Seven Spires and drummer Felix Bohnke from Edguy. Of course, Paeth leads with guitar and then produced, mixed, and mastered the album.

Sascha Paeth's Masters Of Ceremony - Click For Larger Image

Sascha Paeth's Masters Of Ceremony

Well after that long introduction, what can we say about Paeth's solo adventure in Signs Of Wings? Well, I'll lead with this observation: With the first song, The Time Has Come, I was ready to tank this album. The song was riff raging and raw power metal with Cowan's voice equally raw and screamo. That somewhat describes the breadth and depth of the songs within the album.

There's the sweeping sharp raging riffage from Paeth, finished with wickedly enticing solos. Then most everything is wrapped in speed and gusto, yet with some songs having tandem times of dialed down mixed pacing. While my first experience with Ms Cowan was her assertive, I'm going to crush your tympanic membrane, screamo voice, there are some nuances to her vocals. Her range is not best described in octaves, but in style. Her default vocal mode seems to be screamo, but she can swing towards a more melodic metal and hard rock style. Often it's a mixture of styles as within Wide Awake, Die Just A Little, or Weight Of The World. She's nearly calm and charming within the melodic heavy metal rock of Where Would It Be, the best song here. Then all things dial down for the piano ballad, The Path. Who knew? Calm within the terrible typhoon of Signs Of Wings? Ms Cowan sounds like angel.

Don't be disturbed by my average rating. There's nothing average about Masters Of Ceremony or anything about Sascha Paeth's talent. But the modern heavy metal of Signs Of Wings was simply to assertive, caustic, and oppressive for my taste. Perhaps it will grow on me. Judge for yourself and support the artist.


Another Dangerdog Review
Everfrost - Winterider Music Review

Everfrost: Winterider

Melodic Heavy/Power Metal
3.5/5.0

Hailing from chilly Lapland Finland, fantasy metal band Everfrost returns with their second studio album, Winterider. A first for the band, the album is concept album and ... [ Read More ]


CraigHartranft.net - New fiction, crime fiction by Craig Hartranft

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

The Bottom Line

Don't be disturbed by my average rating. There's nothing average about Masters Of Ceremony or anything about Sascha Paeth's talent. But the modern heavy metal of Signs Of Wings was simply to assertive, caustic, and oppressive for my taste.

Find A Review

Alphabetical Index

a b c d e f g h i j
k l m n o p q r s t
u v w x y z #
New & Notable
Read the Lionville: Supernatural Album Review

eviewing my archives, I was pleased to find that I have had the privilege to review every Lionville since their self-titled debut in 2011. Formed by Stefano Lionetti, a songwriter, singer and guitarist based in ... [ Read More ]