The Painted Man - 7/10
From the opening track of A Moment in Chiros, the listener is greeted with a conceptual story in the form of a track of a mix of spoken word and music. From there the listener can tell that this is going to be straight forward prog-power metal.
Lance King puts together a very listenable prog influenced power metal album here. You can hear influences of Symphony X, Stratovarius, Dream Theater, Kamelot and Sonata Arctica. Influences aside, King manages to still have some of his own unique sounds in this offering. The musicianship is right where it should be for a prog/power metal release, showcasing fast paced guitar with equally fast paced, technical drumming. Keyboard and electronic input is there, but never takes over any song. Solos? Yes, the guitar solo is alive and well in this album, as it should be in this genre of music; there is even a ballad-like song on here.
All in all, this is a solid release, and definitely a good place to start for people who want to venture into prog, or some more technical music in the ever expanding landscape of generic, simple music that is flooding our airwaves these days. This is a good place to start also, because there aren't any of the extremely long and technical instrumental and solo sections that are a signature of Dream Theater and Symphony X, that a non seasoned prog fan may be turned off by. This is definitely worth a listen, but listener keep in mind, that prog is all about musicianship, technicality and song structure, so don't expect 3 minute catchy radio songs on this release, if that is what is up your alley, this album, heck prog is not for you.
For me, this was a solid album, lacking a few things that make it a classic, not in the class of the giants of this genre (Dream Theater, Symphony X, Kamelot), but none the less, a very good album.
Review by: Dean Booth
Source: http://tpm2.brookiellen.com/2011/lance-is-king-in-chiros/