A Part Worth Playing

After Neil Young left the California folk-rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1968, he slowly established himself as one of the most influential and idiosyncratic singer/songwriters of his generation. Young's body of work ranks second only to Bob Dylan in terms of depth, and he was able to sustain his critical reputation, as well as record sales, for a longer period of time than Dylan, partially because of his willfully perverse work ethic…

A riddle wrapped in an enigma dressed up in leather and studs, Germany's Mekong Delta perplexed the heavy metal world both by playing an unconventional brand of progressive thrash and by keeping the identities of the bandmembers secret for the first five years of a career starting in 1987…

Although they didn't fare nearly as well as fellow Teutonic thrashers like Kreator and Sodom in terms of career longevity or commercial success, Würzburg, Germany's Paradox certainly seemed, on the surface, to have a better shot at the big time with their more melodic and accessible style. Formed in February of 1986 by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Charly Steinhauer, lead guitarist Markus Spyth, bassist Roland Stahl, and drummer Axel Blaha, the group was heavily influenced by the biggest of all thrash bands – Metallica – and quickly parlayed a few impressive demos into a deal with Roadrunner Records and a very impressive debut album, Product of Imagination, the following year…

Here it is, what is supposedly the final Skylark album which comes 20 years after the band's debut. Soundwise it's a continuation of the previous album Twilights of Sand, meaning a fairly speedy foray into female fronted power-pop metal. It's difficult to name similar sounding bands but think later Nightwish crossed with a little Evanescence crossed with occasional doses of pop that wouldn't sound out of place (production aside) on the latest Taylor Swift album…