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Symphony of Pain - Hydeology | FESTIVALPHOTO

Symphony of Pain - Hydeology



Symphony of Pain is Tracie Law and Pam Chowhan. Pam Chowham is Julian Lloyd Webber's pianist and brings a classical background to the project, while Tracie Law brings the rock and metal background from his time with L.O. Girls and Beki Bondage. Joining them on the album are Dave Dart (Kyrbgrinder) on guitar, Nick Taylor on guitar, and Liz Sweetland providing backing vocals.

There are plenty of bands around combining elements of classical music with rock or metal to varying degrees, but most are in the symphonic metal genre, so Symphony of Pain do stand out as they have a very different sound. The band list various influences including Ozzy, Thin Lizzy, Kings X and Queensryche, but I'd have though Fields of the Nephilim, The Eden House, Therion, Alice Cooper, THe 69 eyes and others would have been more likely. Symphony of Pain have a dark feel to their music, and so are bound to attract the "Goth" label.

Brief comments on a few tracks...

With a title like "3rd movement" I was expecting the track to be fairly classical music based, possibly instrumental. I was part right - it is a short instrumental, but it's more synth based with an eerie atmospheric sound. It leads nicely into "Sister change" which starts with that same sound before adding in some nice heavy guitars. Later on there's a lovely violin section too which works wonderfully well.

With it's almost spoken vocals for the first part of the song, "Am I dreaming" has a definite Alice Cooper feel to it - that dark menacing horror movie feel.

"For now I'm dead" features quite a long instrumental section with the violin playing a key role, and it really is a loevely bit of music. The whole song is great, but that instrumental section is the highlight for me.

This really is a good album. You've got quite a dark goth or horror feel overall but there's a lot of variety in the music and the vocals which means it never loses interest. The classical elements are fairly subtly used and work very well - the violin is a perfect instrument for adding that horror movie atmosphere. If you enjoy bands like The 69 eyes and Alice Cooper then you should certainly give Symphony of Pain a listen.

Hydeology will be released on 28th October 2013

Track listing:

1. Mister Hyde
2. Darker side
3. 3rd movement
4. Sister change
5. Lonely
6. Am I dreaming
7. Kiss the bride
8. For now I'm dead
9. Out of my head
10. Broken clown
11. Nightmare life

Writer: Anthony May
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