Tyranny (album)
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| Tyranny | ||
 |
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| Studio album by Shadow Gallery | ||
| Released | 1998 | |
| Genre | Progressive Metal | |
| Length | 73:44 | |
| Label | Magna Carta | |
| Producer(s) | Carl Cadden-James, Gary Wehrkamp, and Shadow Gallery | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Shadow Gallery chronology | ||
| Carved in Stone (1995) |
Tyranny (1998) |
Legacy (2001) |
Tyranny is the third album by the progressive metal group Shadow Gallery, released in 1998 (see 1998 in music). It is a narrative concept album - the album Room V continues the story that begins on this album.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- Stiletto in the Sand – 1:57
- War For Sale – 5:35
- Out of Nowhere – 4:20
- Mystery – 5:42
- Hope For Us? – 6:00
- Victims – 5:13
- Broken – 1:54
- I Believe – 8:41
- Roads of Thunder – 6:06
- Spoken Words – 4:38
- New World Order – 8:11
- Chased – 4:36
- Ghost of a Chance – 5:19
- Christmas Day – 5:40
Tracks 1 - 7 form "Act I", tracks 8 - 14 form "Act II".
[edit] Synopsis
The albums story is told in first person by a man, who, as he explains, formerly worked for a government to design weapons of mass destruction - initially not entirely being aware of the loss of innocent people's lives because of them. When he confronts his corporate leaders about this, he is fired from his job. He becomes disillusioned in humanity and isolates himself from the rest of the world, soon discovering the Internet. He meets a woman there, who opens his eyes to the real workings of "the system", and who he promptly falls in love with. The protagonist's perception of the so far perfect world starts to shatter, when he slowly begins to realize how the corporate controlled media affects the lives of everyone. When walking across downtown New York, he witnesses a man being robbed and beaten in an alley. He rushes to help, but he's also knocked out, and left unconscious. He wakes up in a basement, in the care of some sort of a poor humanitarian service. He becomes disenchanted by the current state of the world, but remembering his father's words (sang by James LaBrie), he realizes that there's always a chance for change. His obsession with his online soulmate reaches a level where he asks her for a phonecall, but she is hesitant. To prove himself worthy, the protagonist uses his former skills to create a virus which, in his words, brings the "network down in flames". At this point (as heard on the record), his phone rings. His love (sang by Laura Jaeger) warns him that from this point on, he's in the focus of the security agencies, and that they must abolish contact and he must hide, but he insists on a secret meeting, only to be interrupted an unexpected message ("You have an online visitor in your chatroom."), and he is suddenly faced by a government agent (sang by D.C. Cooper) explaining to him that he has been monitored and wiretapped all along, and that he is considered "a risk". Soon, his door is being knocked on by agents sent out to apprehend him, and he is forced to flee, and go into a permanent hiding, where he continues to evaluate his life.
[edit] Personnel
- Mike Baker - lead vocals
- Brendt Allman - guitar, vocals
- Gary Wehrkamp - guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals
- Carl Cadden-James - bass, vocals, flute
- Chris Ingles - piano, synthesizer
- Joe Nevolo - drums
[edit] Additional Muscians
- James LaBrie - vocals on "I Believe"
- Laura Jaeger - vocals on "Spoken Words"
- D.C. Cooper (former vocalist of Royal Hunt) - vocals on "New World Order"
- Paul Chou - violin on "Spoken Words" and "New World Order"
