Review Summary: A bunch of Guitar Pro files from Mysongbook grow into a respectable, if repetitive, record that never got released. FREE LEGAL DOWNLOAD
Somewhere within the cluttered junkyard that the internet has become lie the remnants of Mysongbook... once upon a time, it used to be a place where guitar wannabes could find amateur-made transcriptions of songs they'd want to learn. One short burst of legal action targeted at such activity later, the site got irreparably crippled – it lost the rights to provide its service, and it was all downhill from there... ironically, all the other sites survived, but Mysongbook had to get shot down. The page eventually withered away and died, currently the only activity is a new batch of compositions getting validated, or the occasional old-timer returning and making a few posts before vanishing again... like every other self-respecting site with a purpose and a forum, Mysongbook had a community back in the day, and damn me if the community wasn't a good and talented one.
Since the site was somewhat music-oriented, it probably won't come as a shock to find out that some members were writing their own music in the page's software of choice (Guitar Pro), and eventually the idea of composing competitions was born. Such events were held more-less regularly, and even kept going a few months after the demise of the site's main function as the community slowly washed away. However, the competition most vital to this review was the May/June 2005 edition – a complete unknown by the name of Corran signs up, and tosses forth a file dubbed “Motives” with an innocent comment “my first one – enjoy!”... and the public just stares in disbelief. The entry was insanely well refined for a first composition – good power metal with powerful, catchy melodies, proggy touches with unconventional time signatures, just win. Needless to say, “Motives” did really well in the competition, coming in second out of 24 entries. Corran got placed on the music map, even if his output was merely in the form of Guitar Pro files.
He stuck around on the site, sending further compositions into next competitions, always doing at least somewhat okay, never humiliating himself but never outperforming “Motives” either. Unlike the bombast of some other composers, Corran's music always seemed to be written with a regular band in mind, and soon enough he managed to get together a group dubbed Delusion. The name didn't stick though, eventually they rechristened themselves as Jellosea before (almost!) recording a full-length (the bass to one of the tracks, not included on the reviewed copy, was missing) and falling apart due to the members pursuing further education in towns far apart. The recorded songs never got released in their entirety – a few sneak peeks on their (now defunct) website, a complete mp3 or two, but most of it stayed stashed on Corran's computer and never shown to the public. As a fellow countryman and Mysongbook member, I managed to coax them out of him eventually, along with permission to spread them however wide I see fit. So, I see it fit for you to download it if you feel like it, the link is at the bottom of the review.
The music found on here meets expectations – it's decent, somewhat cookie cutter power metal, wanting to be Evergrey more than Nightwish but failing due to the fact that the singer is female, an okay listen overall. None of the songs are atrocious or disgraceful, but the problem that plagues the album is what always plagued Corran – he never managed to approach “Motives” in terms of quality ever again, it was a curse in its blessing. His tunes are properly written, but none of them capture that little special something that made his first song special. The closest he got was with the satisfying opener “Covergirl”, its toe-tapping chorus (possibly the one most infectious melody in his entire back catalog) and fun, unpredictable structuring the highlights of his blissful return to form after a streak of progressively bleaker competition performances. Another good moment comes with “Krzywe Zwierciadło” (some of the songs are in Polish, so you'll get a chance to hear a foreign language you probably wouldn't have gotten to hear otherwise, ha) and its healthy band vibe, and “The Decisive Act” starts off outright fantastic before drifting off into E major and losing it for good.
However, properly executed songwriting doesn't make a good record alone... “Caught In Between” loses quite a bit when one attempts to look at it as a concise, focused unit, and album and not merely glancing at the songs separately. The tunes collected on here don't offer enough variety and end up blending into each other due to Corran's characteristic, yet repetitive by overuse riffing style. It's good that he developed a composing style he's comfortable with, but he doesn't offer enough variety or outright supreme content to get away with it. There are some innovative moments, but the ridiculous vocal overlapping in “Remake” does more bad than good, and the flamboyant weirdness of “Bezsen”, complete with a deranged circus music interlude, is too little and too late... and even if Corran would have decided to just stick to standard power metal, “Motives” shows that he's capable of way greater tunes than the rather mediocre “Na Skraju Lustra” that comes right after it in the tracklist...
Another problem with the album is that the band sounds completely lifeless. Look, guys, I am aware that recording is a stressful situation, but for Christ's sake, you sounded more alive on the goddamn demo you put out as Delusion! There's something stiff and mechanical in every instrument's parts, be it Corran's guitar work (he shows himself as a more melodic player, shred seekers need not apply), the keyboards (which are a little bit more technical) or the vocals... a bit can be said about the vocals. It was always apparent that the frontwoman has talent, but it's also rather audible that she's very microphone-shy. Her voice sounds oddly subdued, I have a feeling she could sing in a much more powerful fashion if she opened up a bit, but getting comfortable with certain conditions takes time and hopefully she'll eventually overcome her shyness. All of these kids can play their instruments pretty well, and the fact that they stuck together a few years, and a bunch of them seem to have a plan to get back together and start a fresh project, seems to imply they like doing it. Plus, their output is pretty listenable, so it's a win-win situation.
The vast majority of Guitar Pro composers stay as such, but a few of them get some real people together and start performing their music. Corran was one of the few, and his pieces came alive, literally, as they escaped the enclosures of midi and got played by his band. The guitarist was always a decent songwriter, and the songs collected on here all maintain a respectable level of quality for an up-and-coming band, but their replication of one style Corran got really comfortable with and not changing up too much, or offering quality on the level of “Motives”, spells the doom of the album when it's looked at as a whole. The one unfinished track kept this from being officially released, and by the time I talked Corran into sending me this Jellosea was no more... but there's hope that he'll take “Covergirl” and a few other tunes from this album documenting an encouraging story of a composer breaking out of the confines of Guitar Pro along with him to his next bands.
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NOTE: Sorry about the fact that there is no album cover. There simply never was an album cover...
LINK (100% legal and band approved): http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yzdtcnlzxzm
