Three years in the making, Promise Land's highly anticipated full-length album, Harmony In Ruins, was released on Aug 5, 2014 and has proven to be Promise Land’s best work to date.
High Quality, Professional, and Spiritually Thought-Provoking is the journey a listener will experience from Harmony In Ruins.
Promise Land: Harmony In Ruins is a mix of cinematic-orchestral melodies multi-layered in with heavy guitar grooves that are accompanied by both melodic and edgy vocals that immediately captures the listener’s attention.
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Promise Land - Harmony In Ruins| Posted February 03, 2015
Promise Land – Harmony in Ruins.
Hailing from Pittsburgh, PA Promise Land is Christian Symphonic Metal band. Originally formed in 1997 as an acoustic duo, these guys have evolved through the years into the Symphonic/Progressive Metal band they are known for today. Harmony in The Ruins is their debut full scale studio release. The album was released in follow up to the group’s four-song debut EP from 2005, appropriately entitled ‘Demo’.
Promise Land is a 3 piece consisting of David Michael: Founder, Composer, Lead Guitar, Keyboard and 2nd Lead Vocals. Rod Kozikowski: 1st Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitar and Eric Bowser: Drums. There sound well it sits somewhere between Evergrey, Queensryche and Seventh Wonder with lyrics that convey a strong narrative these guys are storytellers in the grand manner. What sets them apart is the unique blend of the twin lead vocals and their Christian Ethos.
The album opens with an orchestral intro as an invitation or welcoming much in the same way a Wagnerian Opera would open with a prologue and every bit as dramatic and sets the musical scene. The band themselves describe their music as Orchestral Cinematic Metal and this track does have the Feel of a Movie curtain raiser. The next the title track Harmony In Ruins is also instrumental apart from the opening bars of a choir and choral break. The pace builds as the drumming and guitar inter-play entwines contrasting the Harmonies of the voices with the Symphonic power of band. Track 3 C.I.U, (stands for Christ In Us), opens like a Queensryche song circa Operation Mind Crime and carries on in that vein. It also illustrates the range that these guys possess as musicians, the instrumentation is always above par throughout the album and the arrangements are fluid and move together effortless in a complete whole. It also showcases the twin lead vocal whilst telling a powerful tale is familiar to some serving members of the Police in this violent world we live in. Before Dawn is a great song, it is the deliberate change of pace. I love the piano and the background vocalizations and is almost a ballad. The main vocals are thoughtful and powerful. Again the experience of Promise Land is creating a cinematic experience in sound. If any song illustrates the big screen feel of this album Hiding Place does it is a movie in a song all in itself. The song is based on the true story of Corrie tenBoom, a modern day hero of faith, based on her and her family’s actions during WWII, specifically in hiding Jewish refugees and facing imprisonment as a result in a political concentration camps. I do have to say seeing my Dad was part of the Allied Forces who liberated the Death Camps this song really struck home with me and I found it extremely powerful. Holy is a great song it’s opening reminds me of Dream Theater with the same sort of epic scale and again you can hear the skill, and you can feel the passion of belief in the vocals, something that runs constant through the album. For the most parts their music spirals around movements and orchestral set pieces of sound almost like acts in an opera that could be easily morphed into movie scores. Eclipse starts the finale to the album in fine style and is almost Wagnerian in texture being pure instrumental whilst recapitulating the themes from earlier tracks. The curtain begins to descend with the first of two instrumental tracks Harmony In Ruins (orchestral) and the start and theme this track is a repeat the opening bars of a choir. Both this track and the last one have a distinct Prog element going on at the same time they draw the album to a fine close and demonstrate the awesome playing of the band.
You could say that this album in some sense is a concept album revolving around the central song Hiding place and in some ways it is. You could say this album is apocryphal and in recounts the fall and hopefully the rise again of mankind. You could say in a way this is a new twist on Symphonic Metal with a strong cinematographic sound stage and strident Christian identity all of which would be true. But in the end Promise Land have produced a fine piece of work that can be listened to on many levels what you take from it depends on you but do give it a hearing.
Rating: 9/10
Record Label- XNilo Records
Website: http://promiselandx.com/
Release date: 5th August 2014
Highlight track: Hiding Place
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