Theocracy - Theocracy
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Prelude (instr.) |
| Genre | Melodic Power Metal |
Matt Smith
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 10 |
Matt Smith
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Guitar
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| Runningtime | 69 Min. |
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Guitar
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| Label | MetalAges Records |
Matt Smith
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Bass
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| Release | 12 Dec. 2003 |
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Drums
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| Country | USA |
Matt Smith
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Keyboards
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| Similar artists | Edguy, Stratovarius, Kamelot, Angra | ||
Never has a one man show been more appropriate word to begin describing a band ´cause Theocracy is the very definition of that. This metal act consists of just one single person, the extremely talented Matt Smith from Athens, Georgia, USA. This guy must absolutely be considered as a musical genius since everything- and then I mean everything- has been executed by him personally. Vocals, all guitars, bass, keyboards, choirs, orchestrations and drum programming are all his own efforts as are also the compositions, lyrics, recording, production, mixing and mastering and everything taking place in his own studio. Totally impressive is a truly fitting expression here wouldn't you say? Matt's been working on this project since his early college years and after having recorded a three track EP in the year 2002; the ball started rolling for real. MetalAges was at that time just a media/design/distribution company but the owner was so immensely struck by Matt's three cut output that he expanded the operation, renamed it to MetalAges Records and signed Theocracy as the first born child of that company. The rest is history and the self titled debut achievement, Theocracy, has opened for business.
The name Theocracy also indicates that there might be a Christian message hidden beneath the surface and that's a very correct assumption. There are definitely Christian overtones raging throughout the whole album lyrically (just check the titles…) but it never gets the slightest preachy but plain and simply reflects Matt's personal beliefs and religious convictions. Other sources of both musical and lyrical inspiration mainly come from other progressive and metal constellations, earlier classic metal bands, movie theme composers and obviously also from legendary Steve Harris, that's supposedly the most prominent influence in Matt's song-writing. Matt personally describes his music as "epic metal with occasional progressive tendencies" of a kind that's "heavy, often fast, dynamic and bombastic with crunchy guitar riffs, harmonized leads, powerful vocals, massive choirs, soaring orchestral arrangements, majestic melodies and deep lyrics". That's frankly very true but I'd also like to add the word epic since the album also compiles a huge portion of longer tracks of such character feeling. When putting this release in comparison to other band's efforts, the first two albums of Edguy, some Queensryche Operation Mindcrime, Angra's Rebirth, Kamelot's previous releases and as good as any album of Stratovarius are the most prominent amongst already released and well-known issues.
This debut is of course a very ambitious effort because of this one man show business but I think that there are some areas where it doesn't go all the way too. The material could have featured a little less complex structures, contained a little more swirling solo sections and shredding frenzies plus overall a bigger number of faster tracks. And even though it packs at least three real awesome highlights-the terrific opener Ichthus, the very epic The Serpent's Kiss and the fast driven title tune- I quite frankly also feel that the differences between highs and lows are a little too big as well and there are a bit too much of elongated slower passages that however emotional still make the album lose a little too much of both flow and pace. The final drawback about this debut is the drum machine. Now a person can't possibly play every single instrument with skill and the programming is of course of a very high standard along with all the rest of the musical inputs but a real drummer would naturally provide a much more distinct and powerful feeling.
Besides this, Matt Smith has with Theocracy given us a
very ambitious and promising debut that when stopped spinning feels
very impressive for a single person to accomplish. The next plans for
this mega talent are of course to gather a complete line-up and that
shouldn't be much trouble 'cause who wouldn't want to join forces with
a talent of this magnitude. Complete band or not though, the future
adventures of Matt Smith and Theocracy will be very interesting to follow
so keep this name in mind and do a serious check up if aforementioned
bands stand high on your list of preferable listening alternatives.
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Production
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Vocals
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Compositions
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8,5 |
8 |
7 |
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Summary
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7,5 chalices of 10 - Mat |
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