Barnabas Sky: Inspirations

Barnabas Sky is yet another exercise in the current trend of "one man band" projects with plenty of guest vocalists thrown into the mix to spice things up (and more than likely lend their names to a spiffy sticker that will get slapped on front of the LP). This project is helmed by multi-instrumentalist Markus Pfeffer, and while it certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel with it's slick, melodic hard rock sound, Inspirations is more than competent and delivers some memorable hooks and performances.

Inspirations is a melodic hard rock album, peppered with bits of traditional heavy metal and AORish arena rock choruses. The obvious comparison here would be Avantasia, although Pfeffer's project here doesn't have the same power metal DNA, and as such there's not any blistering, double-kick drum laden scorchers to be found here. What you WILL find is a similar approach to vocal stylings with Tobias Sammett and company, with plenty of guest vocalists to keep things fresh. Each singer is pretty damn distinct, and they all sound good to great. My personal surprises are Danny Martinez Jr., who kind of sounds like a harder rocking Jon Bon Jovi, and Jesse Damon, who reminds me of Geoff Tate at his lower registers. Those two, along with familiar voices Rob Rock and Zak Stevens, help legitimize this project with class and professionalism. Just great performances from these guys.

The songs are fairly basic for the genre, but they do have some nice choruses and melodies along the way. Personal favorite tracks include opener "Legends Rise", and "The Alkonost", the latter of which is probably the most exciting and interesting track on Inspirations, with it's spacey keyboards and chugging guitars. The album as a whole really has that classic rock radio vibe, where even when you don't know what song is playing, you can kind of tell where it's going to end up. And that's not a bad thing, as there's nothing wrong with some charmingly predictable melodic rock for a long drive.

Inspirations was a good listen, with catchy and competent songwriting and great vocal performances by some great veteran talent. If you enjoy Avantasia's lighter and more approachable material it's certainly worth checking out for it's feel-good melodic sound and bounce. There's so many of these projects popping up these days, but this one can be approached without fear, and you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.

Tracklist:
1. Legends Rise (ft. Danny Vaughn) 6:47
2. What Lies Beneath (ft. Zak Stevens) 6:17
3. In My Mind (ft. Danny Martinez Jr.) 4:09
4. Yesterday's Gone (ft. Rob Rock) 5:29
5. Till The End Of Time (ft. Jesse Damon & Paul Sabu) 4:57
6. Say Farewell To Darker Days (ft. Danny Vaughn) 6:17
7. Breathe Again (ft. Danny Martinez Jr.) 4:55
8. The Alkonost (ft. Zak Stevens) 4:05
9. Timm's Theme (instrumental) 3:04
10. Youngblood (ft. Jesse Damon & Paul Sabu) 5:10
11. Never Enough (ft. Steve Grimmett) 4:26
12. Till The End Of Time (piano version) 4:51

Added: February 27th 2022
Reviewer: Brandon Miles
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 924
Language: english

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