Genius, A Rock Opera

[WeekendWarrior]

Genius, A Rock Opera
Part 1: A human into Dreams' World

By: Daniele Liverani
With: Mark Boals, Lana Lane, Daniel Gildendow, Chris Boltendahl, Joe Vana, John Wetton, Steve Walsh, Oliver Hartmann, Midnight and Phillip Bynoe

"The 21ist Century Heavy Metal Masterpiece!"

Release: October 21st!

Anyone heard of this project?
btw, the cover is very nice..


NP: Cryonic Temple - King of Transylvania

 

[Symphony]

Yeah, I've seen a lot of hype around the net about this project but I haven't heard any of the material yet.

 

[Blessed Night Child]

I haven't heard about this. Need input, need more input.

 

[dragonmaiden]

Me too BNC. C'mon guys...spill!!!!

 

[WeekendWarrior]

just check it out oct 21'st..

 

[Symphony]

Has anyone got this yet then? Let's have a review ASAP!!!!

 

[Symphony]

GENIUS A Rock Opera - Episode 1 (Frontiers)

With high caliber rock operas like Ayreon's Universal Migrator and the twin Avantasia discs out there, I wasn't expecting much from an epic put together by a guy no one really knows even though there is some serious talent involved on the project. Turns out that Genius was a kick in the teeth. Put together by Empty Tremor guitarist Daniele Liverani, Genius is a prog-metal opera centering on one character's journey through the realm of dreams, using the talents of Mark Boals (Ring Of Fire), Daniel Gildenlow (Pain Of Salvation), Lana Lane, John Wetton, Oliver Hartmann (At Vance), Chris Boltendahl (Grave Digger) and Midnight (ex-Crimson Glory) to tell the story. With the exception of a couple cheesy pop-ish tracks and a grammatically weak narrative (voiced by Ring Of Fire bassist Phillip Bynoe), Genius is a surprisingly addictive listen. Of particular note is Boals' performance on the Awake-era Dream Theater piece 'Without Me Today', Boltendahl's tear through 'The Glory Of Our Land', the Wizard Of Oz-inspired Helloweenie speedster 'There's A Human' sung by Hartmann, and the killer return of Midnight to the metal world through the Crimson Glory-flavoured 'Terminate'. Two more installments are planned over the next two years, with Boals and Midnight reprising their roles as Genius and Maindream respectively. A nice surprise from something that I figured was B-rate until I listened to it.


8.5 Carl Begai

 

[Kalmakoff]

I just listened to the samples and...I am quite disappointed. It just didn't sound like anything special.

 

[WeekendWarrior]

Not bad..looking forward to hear it myself


NP: Stratovarius - Black diamond

 

[Ayeka]

Funnily enough, I was browsing through www.metal-archives.com earlier today and looked at this because I thought it had a wierd name...sounds very interesting and worth checking out!

 

[Wooks]

We have 2 reviews about this project on our website, check it out at: http://people.freenet.de/prettiesforyou/
I got my copy yesterday and it's brilliant

 

[Symphony]

Cheers Wooks....I'm off to check out your site!

 

[Kalmakoff]

Hopefully the whole album proves my suspicion wrong.

 

[stringskipping]

Cheesy lyrics and Cheesy Mc Characters bring it down for me, but Boals' vocals rule.

I much much prefer Mark's new solo album "edge of the world" which is out in Japan now and out in Europe 11/11. It has Virgil Donati and Vinny Appice on drums, Erik Norlander on keys and a stack of cool guitarists - Tony Mac, Chris Brooks, Jeff Kollman etc.

The vox are as good if not better than Genius, but there are no "it was only a dream" concepts, just great songs delivered superbly.

 

[Symphony]

Anything which features Virgil Donati is usually pretty damn good. I'll have to check it out. His work on the Planet X stuff is amazing!