Enix, Max: Far From Home

Far From Home is a double concept album by composer/songwriter, singer, lyricist, art director, manager, and producer Max Enix. There are like a thousand professional musicians and guest artists taking part on this project, but the core of the recording band is Max Enix as composer, vocals and synths, Leo Margarit on drums, Vikram Shankar on piano and keyboards, Elise Wachbar on vocals, Xavier Boscher on guitars, and Jean-Jaques Moréac on bass.

What we have in front of us are almost 160mins of music where nothing is really happening, there are tons of musical picks and valleys, but the scenery is the same all throughout the output, and I hate myself for being so hard on Max’s work because I can feel the tremendous work he’s done, but at the end, and after investing multiple listens, the proclaimed art metal is not such, the opera is no opera, and the concept gets lost in an eternal loop of sameness. The best way I can describe this album is a mix of doom metal with mid-tempo symphonic metal, with some nuances of opera and hip-hop, a place where I find myself constantly waiting for a hook or latch that unfortunately never arrives. Too much flat orchestration that gets constantly interrupted by the power metal mechanical drumming and the low-mixed guitars. Max’s heavy accent combined with the strange wording format/phrasing in which the lyrics are laid makes the listening experience a tough one, and that’s a shame because I can’t imagine the humongous effort the artist has put into this work, but it just doesn’t work at all, at least for me. A Highlight? The Budapest Symphony Orchestra sounds flawless and clear enough on the mix, great choice by Max.

There are some good instrumental moments, especially in songs like “City of Mortals�, “The Forsaken Ocean�, “Far from Home�, and the singles (video supported) “The Broken Face� and “Beyond my Blood�, but the overall feeling of the album is too conceptual to the point that almost everything sounds the same. Even when any of the vocal guests amongst the large array of invited musicians take their part in the songs, Max’s voice is always present as well, somehow overwhelming the performance of his invitees, so… why invite them in the first place?

“Prayer of The Gods� is a beautiful song, both lyrically and musically speaking, with great piano work and lush melodies, a little too long and pretentious, but an undeniable highlight in this enormous output.

After 13 songs with an average length of 10 plus minutes each, the title track arrives to close the epic journey. Clocking almost 27 minutes it is perhaps the best song, one that includes a bit of everything that preceded it, but my ears and brain are tired, exhausted from traveling this bumpy, tedious and ambitious road alongside the artist… it is simply too much too digest, and the flavor variety is not such… a wider range of ingredients would have made a difference for me, so I could better enjoy the meal. Kudos to Max for the titanic work he has accomplished, hope he finds the right public and patrons for his creation. Cheers

Track list (Cd 1):
1) The End of an Era (4:12)
2) Tears of Earth (7:49)
3) City of Mortals (10:15)
4) Prayer of The Gods (10:31)
5) In This Forgotten Paradise (13:49)
6) An Illusional Kiss (9:44)
7) The Dark and Bright Tunnel (11:30)
8) The Forsaken Ocean (12:04)

Track list (Cd 2):
1) Childhood Emotions (3:21)
2) The Broken Face (13:14)
3) Beyond My Blood (11:39)
4) Mirrors of Time (11:16)
5) Angels of the Apocalyptic Storm (13:34)
6) Far from Home (26:37)

Added: March 28th 2023
Reviewer: Jose Antonio Marmol
Score:
Related Link: Artist Website
Hits: 1105
Language: english

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