Beyond The Rainbow is the 5th album of German melodic prog/AOR band Saris. This band was founded in the early eighties by Derk Akkerman (guitars and keyboards) and after a 13 year hiatus Akkerman started the band anew with a completely different line up. Female vocalist Anja Gunther was one of the new members and her voice “changed” the sound of Saris, as the band now sounds like a blend of Within Temptation, Asia, ELO and Symphony X. The songs on Beyond The Rainbow are a true blend of prog metal, melodic rock, AOR, power ballads and stadium rock and examples of this are the epic title track (clocking over 11 minutes) and songs like Heaven's Gate, Time Machine and Avalon. All the tracks are filled with keyboard walls, addictive melodies and nice melodic guitar solos. The vocal duets by Henrik Wagner and Anja Gunther sometimes sound a bit too sweet and over dramatic and if you listen to the lyrics carefully you will find out that these are a bit too familiar and unoriginal; take for instance Avalon. However, all in all I have to say that Beyond The Rainbow is not a bad album, especially if you like melodic AOR and a band like Within Temptation. Try it out for yourself. *** Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
