You know, as much as I may like listening to music with English lyrics so I can understand what is being sung, I do find myself enjoying a bit of foreign language music from time to time and Japanese music is my main preference as I may not understand the lyrics one bit but I find myself enjoying it as it's usually the performance from both the music and the vocals that win me over.

So what does my above statement have to do with todays review? This is the first foreign language promo I have reviewed for this site and I am quite intrigued to see if it's as good as a Japanese album or not. The album in question is "Sinhabumi" by Sri Lankan musician Chitral Chity Somapala.

Born in the Colombo area of Sri Lanka, Chitral Chity Somapala has worked with a large number of Rock and Metal acts over the years including AVALON, POWER QUEST, SHADOWKEEP, RED CURCUIT and CIVILIZATION ONE to name but a few as well as releasing his own solo albums with the "Sinhabumi" album being his latest solo venture.

Written, recorded and produced by Chitral himself, this 8 track album with a total playtime of around 30 minutes is sung entirely in his native language of Sinhala which is the official language of Sri Lanka. So, is an album sung in a language I have never heard before as good as Japanese music which I am used to by now? Well the answer to this question is both yes and no.

Let's start with the yes part to this answer. The music is a mixture of both Hard Rock and Melodic Rock and it does sound very clear for a one person job and the vocals too are very powerful for what they are even though I cannot understand the lyrics but that has not stopped me before from enjoying a non-English language album or song.

Now for the no part to this answer. Despite any positives I may have addressed in the previous paragraph, I found myself a bit baffled and confused when listening to this. I think the reason why I was a bit baffled and confused is because I'm not used to hearing languages like this being used in music. Another reason why is yes the vocal performance is good in places but at times it sounds a bit rough and a bit forced in some places so there are some tracks when it stands out better then others.

Verdict time now and this is an album of two halves for me. Although there were some moments when I found myself enjoying it, there were other times when I found myself a bit confused because of the fact that I have never heard a language like this being used before in music which I have no objections to but it's just not something I am used to. Overall, this is actually not too bad for what it is and there are moments where you can enjoy the music even if you do not understand the lyrics.