Farther Paint
Lose Control Lion Music

by Matthew Hoffman
Staff Writer

Comments: Italian progressive metal in the form of Farther Paint is back on the scene. Lose Control is the new full-length release and contains eight tracks lasting 37 minutes.

Female vocals Monica Rossi brings a very unique style to the progressive music. She sings in a soulful '80s pop/soul fashion and frankly it does not work.
The release has wonderful moments of almost mathematical progressive metal and sees one hell of a performance from drummer Luca Prima as well as axe fiend Francesco Federici, but as a whole Lose Control is a disjointed, confusing affair.

Take the two songs "No One Is around Me" and "Chains." These see Rossi singing in two different styles which on their own work well but combine on a progressive metal album is sorely out of place. The first cut has many different cool parts including sterling keyboard work from Gabriele Manocchi, but the song has no real structure or comprehensive sense to it. The second track sees Rossi bringing it similar to Amy Lee (Evanescence), Sarah Mclachlan or a '70s lounge singer (see "Inside the Cage") which is impressive range but once again none of this suits the progressive music style.

The best track on the record is "Anger" which starts with what sounds like a 30 second searching through the AM radio dial. When the real music starts, the guitars and drums kick in as well as the spirited keyboards in an almost "fun house" sounding melody line. Two minutes in the keyboards play notes that consist of human sounds a pretty unique feature. When the guitar line ramps up it starts fast with wicked notes and then goes deep and soulful, before the keys return to the fun melody. Before this instrumental is over the guitar and the keyboards revisit their solo techniques and the whole song eventually feels like a wild ride through jazz-fusion land.

Now it must be said that even thought he soulful vocals don't match the style of music, this band has a ton of talent and many parts of this CD shine very brightly. Many of the songs onLose Control are all dripping with emotion, and the main thing that the record does show about this group is their thorough effort to be unique. .
This "effort" however is not enough to make this a comprehensive complete CD; this band should get either a straight vocalist like James LaBrie if they hope to play experimental progressive music, or simply go to instrumental "prog."

Sadly this record is not recommended for purchase as the special talents of the musicians is ruined by the unconventional singer.

Lineup:
Francesco Federici-Guitars
Gabriele Manocchi- Keyboards
Thomas Bianchi- Bass
Luca Prima- Drums
Monia Rossi-Vocals

Track Listing:
1. Lose Control
2. Hold Me
3. No One Is Around Me
4. Chains
5. Illusion In My Hands
6. Anger
7. Inside The Cage
8. My Noise

Hardrock Haven rating: 5/10