Lost in Time: Shadow Gallery – Tyranny

Style: prog metal, power/prog (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Symphony X, Threshold, Fates Warning, Queensrÿche
Review by: Andy
Country: US-PA
Release date: September 22, 1998

At this point, Shadow Gallery need no introduction, and they take that into the songwriting, coming straight out of the gates the most metal they’ve been with the instrumental opener, “Stiletto in the Sand.” The excellent bass-work by Carl Cadden-James is finally higher in the mix to more obviously interact with the standout performances of Brendt Allman (guitars) and Gary Wehrkamp (keyboards mostly). This new, immediate urgency translates into the next few songs as well: “War for Sale” places this iteration of Shadow Gallery between Symphony X’s classic power/prog and Dream Theater’s trad prog but with a stronger singer. 

Regarding that singing, Mike Baker elevates this album to new dizzying heights for Shadow Gallery. His title drops are particularly noteworthy: the callback to “Stiletto in the Sand” during “War for Sale,” nearly every chorus like “Hope for Us?,” or the “I believe I believe” in “I Believe” are all stunning lines. Beyond Mike Baker, his bandmates provide an elevated richness as each song drips in harmonies, the voices interacting with each other as sweetly as honey. On Tyranny Shadow Gallery are totally on the same wavelength. Even outside the band, the two guest singers that make an appearance—Laura Jaeger in the wonderful duet “Spoken Words” and everybody’s favorite, non-controversial prog metal maestro James LaBrie (Dream Theater, of course)—both fit in with strong performances. LaBrie’s performance in particular is weighty enough to be the eloquent final words of the protagonist’s dying father (as they are in the album’s story). The final vocal feat I want to shout out is once again our main man Mike Baker on “New World Order,” which is his greatest yet. From the sinister vocal intro to the melodramatic flairs and bombastic chorus, Baker tries his hand at playing several characters that all coalesce into a varied and impressive song. The violin that picks off in the solo section as Baker drops out completes the drama. 

Perhaps as impressive is the mini-epic “I Believe.” Besides LaBrie’s already mentioned final words, the more middling pace bears more heft than the spindly guitar-lines in the instrumentals or the calm singing-forward ballads. “I Believe” succeeds at writing a musical journey more than many a prog epic over twice its length with the track’s rising and falling structure, a testament to Shadow Gallery’s songwriting mastery. Other examples of Shadow Gallery’s triumphs are “Out of Nowhere,” which drops the frantic nature of the previous “War for Sale” while keeping the riff game on point, and the instrumental “Chased,” a rocking track with lots of guitar and keyboard acrobatics. 

As much as I love the instrumental and vocal excess on Tyranny, around “Chased,” however, is when the album’s extended length begins to be noticeable. Tyranny sits at seventy-four minutes long: Shadow Gallery certainly give the audience their money’s worth, but the album feels a tad over long even though every track is truly phenomenal. But for the sake of writing a more approachable album, the double ballad ending is a strange choice for pacing; I think without “Ghost of a Chance” and the interlude segue “Broken,” which while better than those on Carved in Stone still feels superfluous, the album could be stronger.

Tyranny is Shadow Gallery’s most cohesive album to this day; the concept is fun and engaging; the performances place them in the upper echelon of prog ability; and every track has at least one classic, catchy chorus or melody. On the debut and Carved in Stone, Shadow Gallery absolutely gave into hedonistic excess at points, but they never let their abilities be quite so on display as this; however, I mean this as an advantage to Tyranny because the band are such fantastic composers that any time a lick, chorus, or harmony from “Mystery,” “Hope for Us?,” “Christmas Day,” or just about any other track comes up, I will drop anything to listen to the entirety of Tyranny. It’s simply that phenomenal. A fitting way for the band to close the first full decade of prog metal’s existence, Tyranny is Shadow Gallery’s zenith.

Recommended Tracks: War for Sale, Hope for Us?, I Believe, Spoken Words, New World Order
Final Verdict: 9.5/10

Related links: Wikipedia | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Discogs | Metal-Archives page

Label: Magna Carta Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Shadow Gallery is:
– Mike Baker (lead vocals, R.I.P. 2008)
– Carl Cadden-James (bass, fretless bass, flute, backing vocals)
– Gary Wehrkamp (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals)
– Chris Ingles (keyboards)
– Brendt Allman (guitars, backing vocals)
– Joe Nevolo (drums)