Ricochet: Zarah - A Teartown Story

At first spin, this is a very good record. With subsequent spins it just gets better, and German quintet Ricochet's history of playing together for 10-years is very apparent.

Ricochet's second album (not counting demos) is a concept piece that tells the story of Zarah, an inner-city girl with an awful life, misunderstood by friends, and abused as a child. She murders her father and eventually commits suicide in jail. Yet at the end there's a glimmer of hope and the understanding that life goes on. Yet rather than sounding morbid the songs project a tone of questioning, and of anger. It's deep rather than dark, yet very powerful. The story line is advanced by several of prog's standard tools - a children's playground, heavy breathing masking a tempo shift, footsteps and a creaking door, a distant muted scream, a 2-minute silence near the end, the Floydian "Great Gig In The Sky" section in the last track, a brief radio announcement ... clichéic perhaps but they're brief and they do the job.

Musically, Zarah - A Teartown Story falls somewhere in the middle of progressive metal, neo prog, and hard rock. The sound is in the same genre as label-mates Cryptic Vision. Or imagine a cross between Threshold and Arena - or perhaps a more symphonic version of Queensryche. In fact during the power ballad "Silent Retriever" you mind may trick you into hearing strains of "Silent Lucidity". Ricochet's sound is melodic and thankfully the performances emphasize emotion over flash, sentiment over technique. There are plenty of great chops and there's no shortage of technique, but your lasting impression will be of the more pedestrian sections, the soulful guitar solos, the wailing appeals in the excellent vocals, and the strong but usually simple piano and keyboard lines that lend the piece its rich texture.

The strongest single element on Zarah - and certainly the most immediately impressive - is Christian Heise's singing. It's in an upper mid-range with perfect pitch and wonderful range, and a similar timbre to Arena's Rob Sowden. Listen to "Final Curtain" in which he starts in a strong low voice, and progresses flawlessly through to very a well-controlled higher pitch. Heiko Holler's guitar work is also impressive, and the tight interaction among the instruments across the diverse compositions is at the state of the art in hard-edged prog.

It's hard to pick any standout tracks. The album runs over 72 minutes and there are enough common elements among the 9 songs that - along with the unifying effect of the story line - it plays like a well crafted, contiguous piece. The two power ballads "Final Curtain" and "Silent Retriever" are among the better in the breed, three of the songs are epic pieces ranging from 9 to 19 minutes, and the instrumental "Disobedience" is impressive in its ability to keep your interest through its 6 minutes. Production is very good, the cover art is simple yet eye-catching, and with the obvious help of their new label ProgRock Records, the whole package is put together with a refreshing touch of refinement.

Ricochet won't win prizes for the most imaginative music, but there are no weaknesses to this album and it will enjoy a very wide appeal. Well recommended.

Track Listing:
01. Entering The Scene
02. Teartown
03. Disobedience
04. Silent Retriever
05. Cincinnati Road
06. Caught In The Spotlight
07. Final Curtain
08. The Red Line
09. A New Days Rising

Added: July 23rd 2006
Reviewer: Duncan Glenday
Score:
Related Link: Ricochet's Web Site
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Language: english

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