Label: Lion Music
Review by Tony Cannella
From the United Kingdom, Operose is a progressive metal band. With their debut album, “Footprints in the Hourglass”, the band displays a whole lot of musical proficiency combined with songs that are both melodic and memorable. The opening track “Empty Mirrors (Death of Eurydice)” clocks in at 11 ½ minutes and is bombastic and epic as you would imagine. Lead vocalist Jennifer Coleman is a full-fledged opera singer and she puts her heart into each and every song. Lead guitarist Joe McGurk is super impressive as well. The songs are obviously well crafted and each song presents its own vibe and has its own identity which makes it an easy album to listen to from beginning-to-end, in one sitting. “Footprints” is the second shortest song (at just over 5-minutes) and easily the most accessible, but damn the vocals on this one are astounding. I can’t say enough about the musicianship. Along with the vocals everything meshes together so effortlessly. “River of Memories” is melodic and straight-forward. Other highlights include: “Remember Me”, “Moments” and the epic 10-minute track “Stand Among Angels” which closes this beautiful record. Progressive metal, in my opinion, is one of the most under-valued of the metal sub-genres. Operose actually straddles the line between progressive metal (à la Dream Theater) and operatic symphonic metal (early Nightwish comes to mind), but certainly put their own stamp on it. “Footprints in the Hourglass” is an impressive record that left me floored and speechless.
Rating – 90/100
Tracklist
- Empty Mirrors (Death of Eurydice)
- Footprints
- River of Memories
- The Long Grass (Seconds Apart)
- Remember Me
- Moments
- The Faded Portrait of Affection
- Stand Among Angels
Line Up
- Jennifer Coleman – Vocals
- Joe McGurk – Guitar
- Kevin Deplanche – Drums