Italian keyboard virtuoso Mistheria debuts with a flabbergasting album: Messenger of the Gods. Actually, this can hardly be called a debut: Mistheria has been around for years, and is a highly profiled performer in several compilations, as well as collaborations, both on CD and on stage. With this album, he proves he has earned his high profile reputation, and delivers a splendid collection of songs that will surely be welcomed and appreciated by a large group of fans worldwide.

Messenger of the Gods is no solo album. With him, Mistheria has some 30 odd performers, or “guests,” as he calls them. Some are well known to us (John Macaluso, Rob Rock, and Alex Masi just to mention a few), while the majority makes up a list of who-is-who in Italian Progressive Rock today. Check out his Web site @ http://www.mistheria.com for details!

Style-wise, this is an album in the Neo-Classical branch of Progressive Metal, with a generous dash of German Power/Speed Metal. Melodies, harmonies, and chord progressions are kept well within the tradition of Neo-Classical music. Rhythms, however, are from time to time very complex, and this adds an intriguing aspect to the music, just as one should expect from Progressive Metal. The lyrics deal mainly with mythological characters and their tales … perhaps not the most mind-boggling words, but indeed so in line with the Neo-Classical and German Power/Speed Metal tradition, that it's hard to imagine how anyone could have done this any better.

One of the most appreciative features of this album is Mistheria's respect for the music and his fellow musicians. How often have you heard guitarists spoil an entire album with their masturbatory licks? Or drummers beat the freaking shit out of a perfectly good song? Or singers cry their heart and lungs out so hard (anatomically speaking), that it leaves you with a consuming desire to listen to instrumental elevator Muzak? All of this for the sake of having their own name listed on the cover of the album? Mistheria is above it all. He is the creative and directive mastermind, but is generous enough to let the artists speak their own mind too (through their instruments, of course). This results in music with remarkable honesty and emotion.

Standing out from the crowd of guests on this album is undoubtedly singer Max Romano … he runs up among the finest of male Metal vocalists today. Romano and Mistheria go way back together, with a number of Dream Theater tribute performances in Italy under their belt so far. One can clearly hear Romano's Dream Theater influence, but he is second to none when it comes to establishing a unique sound of his own. This fellow can give you Goosebumps big time ...

Among the other all-excellent performers -- Andrea Scali (drums), Emilio Di Marco (bass), Leonardo Porcheddu (guitar) and Maria Pia Di Gioia (soprano vocals) -- all deserve some extra credit for their rock-solid craftsmanship and gracious musicianship.

Mistheria himself plays his keyboards just right, too, of course. Like a group of ballerinas, his fingers dance on the ebony and ivory keys, and he moves elegantly from the subtle background soundscapes to brilliant solos. But most important is his efforts as composer and arranger. Having more than 30 people involved with an album is no guarantee for success. Just imagine if you had some 30 people coming over to your house to make you an omelet. Some come early and some come late. Some are pastry chefs, some carry a lifetime of experience in cooking at home for their spouse, and others swing the knife at the local burger joint. Unless you take charge yourself and become the head chef, that omelet will not likely make it to your plate. Mistheria grabs the magic conductor wand and stitches up a musical quilt worth admiring! With regards to this, and to the before mentioned performers, Mistheria makes a smart move in keeping the same singer, drummer, guitarist and bass player for the majority of the tracks, thus creating the kind of unionism required for an album like this, as if this is a band and not a kitchen party gone astray.

But this is not a flawless album, in spite of a dozen great songs and all the excellent individual and collective performances. Since all the 12 tracks are quite long, they simply run short of time, as a CD can hold no more than 80 minutes of music. This results in a couple of very embarrassing fade-outs (such as in songs "The Beast of the Maze" and "Dragon's Teeth"). Also, the album tends to be quite over-produced, especially on the vocals side. Max Romano is an excellent singer, but he falls terribly short as his own backing singer when harmonies are added to the melodies. It’s not that he doesn't hit the notes, it’s just that it becomes too much … sort of like chocolate-chip brownies with chocolate frosting coated in caramel sauce. Finally, the symphonic parts on the album sound lame as they are poured out from Mistheria's computer controlled sequencers and synthesizers. In the end, there is no substitute for real strings and horns and reeds.

Still, with 10 equally good songs and 2 instrumentals, it's really hard to pick any absolute favorites, but perhaps the 3-piece instrumental suite, "Messenger of the Gods," is worth a few moments alone in the spotlight. It's truly rare to hear this kind of variety and dynamics in Modern Metal. Truly a masterpiece!

If by now you haven't already ordered the album on the internet or at least figured out what a major lift to the skies this CD is, let me make it clear to you: this is manna from the heavens of the gods; these are the vital words from the Messenger of the Gods. www.metalexpressradio.com

MISTHERIA - MESSENGER OF THE GODS (B+) Lion Music, 2004
13 tracks, RT: 78:51
[ http://www.mistheria.com/ ]
[ http://www.lionmusic.com/ ]
You may be familiar with keyboard virtuoso Mistheria from his
appearances on albums by Winterlong, Rob Rock and several tribute CDs,
as his technical skills are quite stunning and memorable. MESSENGER OF
THE GODS is unapologetic neoclassical metal, complete with overblown
arrangements, operatic singing and complex musicianship featuring over
30 (!) guest performers. If you are knowledgeable about the scene
you'll recognize many of the names: Alex Masi, George Bellas, Jeff
Kollman, Ron Thal, Barry Sparks, Anders Johansson, John Macaluso, Rob
Rock and Hubi Meisel are just some of the artists Mistheria has
recruited to help him realize his vision. Vocals are something I often
give Lion grief about as I feel that they have been a weak area on
their releases in the past, and once again the vocals seem to be the
Achilles heel of this disc, taking a lot of time to get used to. The
production on the CD is a bit raw which serves to reduce the overall
impact (this type of metal should sound fuller and more explosive),
but this is on par with what a small label like Lion can reasonably
do. OK, that's all the negatives I'm going to mention -- otherwise
what you have here is some excellent classical/symphonically
influenced metal sure to appeal to fans of bands like Ring Of Fire,
Artension, Yngwie Malmsteen's early work (including Alcatrazz) and
Symphony X. Some of the better vocal performances remind me of Graham
Bonnet, while Mistheria has obviously been influenced by Jens
Johansson and Jon Lord. The guitar work is just as shredding as you
would expect, with killer drums and bass clearly in evidence. Check
out the ensemble playing on "Zeus Will Storm The Earth," melodic "King
Midas," lengthy but dramatic "Dynasty Of Death" or the urgency of
"Dragon's Teeth" for some good samples. The title track is a tour-de-
force of orchestral shred that should place Mistheria up alongside
modern keyboard masters such as Michael Pinnella and Vitalij Kuprij. I
wouldn't be surprised if Yngwie called him up to play on his next
album -- he should... - Neal Woodall (MysticX10@msn.com)

=====
Detritus Rock/Metal e-zine
"Rock Hard With A Purpose"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/detritus/

Mistheria – Messenger Of The Gods
   A highly regarded keyboard player in the ever growing Italian scene, Mistheria has been making music for about ten years now. In the past he’s worked with the likes of Rick Renstrom, Winterlong, and Rob Rock, adding his own neo-classical touches to the latter’s excellent ‘Eyes Of Eternity’ opus. ‘Messenger Of The Gods’ is his first solo release for Lion Music, and has been in the making for some two years or so. First big surprise was to find that rather than being another all instrumental affair, ‘Messenger Of The Gods’ was actually a full vocal album. Not to take anything away from the music which is actually pretty good throughout (kinda Malmsteen meets Kelly Simonz with a slight progressive twist), but the most amazing thing about this release is the sheers scale of the guest list. If I was to say that such respected players as Rob Rock, Hubi Meisel, Alex Masi, Anders Johansson, Tommy Denander and John Macaluso wasn’t even half the story, you should get a feel for the scale of Mistheria’s ambitions. And as I said, the guy actually seems to have the musical muscle to back up such a bold approach, the overblown flamboyance of songs such as ‘Zeus Will Storm The Earth’, ‘Eternity’, and ‘The Beast Of The Maze’ never failing to impress. Lastly, whilst Mistheria is obviously the driving force behind the whole thing, his contributions never overshadow the songs themselves, giving ‘Messenger Of The Gods’ much more of a band feel. Excellent!

Review by Dave Cockett of Fireworks & Powerplay magazines

 

Misthera

The Album

Messenger Of The Gods

Tracks

Praeludium Opus 71
Zeus Will Storm The Earth
The Chimera
The Beast Of The Maze
King Midas
Dynasty Of Death
Children's Heaven
Witch Of The Demons
Dragon's Teeth
Messenger Of The Gods
Titans
Eternity

The Italian keyboard musician known as Mistheria has been working on this album for the last 2 years with the help of 33 or so other musicians and singers. Of the four singers used, as usual, the superb vocals of Hubi Meisel particularly shine through on his one contribution on the track "Eternity" while Rob Rock's at times husky delivery is well suited to his two efforts, i.e. "Zeus Will Storm The Earth" and "Titans". All the guitarists contribute to the overall epic sound of this symphonic metal project, albeit on occasions in a predictable metal fashion. At times, these excessive metal influences overload the proceedings somewhat but generally Mistheria's keyboards more than make up for any lack of original shortcomings from some of the predictable guitar licks.

This album is always on the melodic side, more so on the quieter, thoughtful moments. It's here where the quality of this album rises fivefold and personally I would have liked to have heard a more consistent approach in this direction. The latter stages of this album, i.e. from the half way stage, demonstrate this point magnificently. As it stands, this is still a good example of progressive metal and easily stands among the top 20% or so of bands of this genre. When Mistheria's keys are more prominent his musicianship and classical training is all too obvious, e.g. the magnificent opening overture "Praeludium Opus 71", "Children's Heaven", "Messenger Of The Gods", "Titans" and the truly breathtaking classic "Eternity". These tracks are all magical performances from the maestro and are well worth checking out by metal and progressive enthusiasts. 80%
European Progressive Rock Reviews
http://www.tandet.freeserve.co.uk  

Mistheria - Messenger of the Gods

© 2004 Lion Music
Reviewed by Dave Palmer


I really wasn't sure what to expect from this release. I know that Mistheria is highly rated as a keyboard player. As a matter of fact, he is rated as Italy's number one keyboard player. I guess I expected this album to be a big showoff on the keyboards. An instrumental clinic for keyboard players around the globe. Well, I was wrong. This album was two years in the making and it really shows. Mistheria actually keeps himself in check and has done his keyboard work very tastefully. Not to say he doesn't get it on, because he really can and does in places. There is actually much more here. If you look at the guest list on this record, your jaw will hit the floor. I am not going to go into who is there, but it is all-star to say the least. I counted around 32 different musicians on this album. That is where the impressive stuff starts. I also want to point out that this is not an all instrumental effort either. Some of those guest include vocalists such as Rob Rock, Hubi Meisel, and Max Romano. There is also a soprano vocalist. Maria Pia Di Gioia sings this part on the song 'Witch of the Demons'. I want to call most of the music Power metal.  There are moments that remind me more of progressive and that is what I would expect. Alot of the album really gets down to business though such as 'Dynasty of Death', and 'Zeus Will Storm the Earth'. Very aggressive tunes to say the least although there is a touch of finesse added in that creates a balance. At times I was thinking melodic speed metal as well. One thing is apparent. This is a very heavy guitar driven album. Kind of surprising coming from a keyboard player, but that is the case. Like I mentioned earlier, Mistheria comes off classy without looking like he gets carried away. Very tasteful. Some of the other tracks I liked included 'Eternity', 'Titans', 'Messenger of the Gods', 'Dynasty of Death' and 'Zeus will storm the Earth'.


Overall

A very good album that lets the musicians balance the sound. You would expect a large keyboard presence, which there is obviously. But there is also a large presence of everything else which creates the balance I am talking about. The vocal work really makes this album complete and will bring in fans that would otherwise avoid an album like this that would've been instrumental. Definitely a large album and solid as well.