I was in no mood this afternoon to listen to an unknown to me band's album. I had to do this specific review, though, so I tried the following test: I took a detailed look at Evil Masquerade's cover artwork and imagined what kind of music it brought to my mind. I then crossed it with artists/albums from my collection and my Hi Fi stereo hosted tunes from bands like King Diamond, Royal Hunt, Queen and Metal Majesty. I then had an enormous appetite to check out if I had come up with the right choices... Let's see what happened.
Evil Masquerade hail from Denmark (what a great country - gorgeous blondes and my beloved Pretty Maids & Mercyful Fate) and are the brainchild of ex-Moahni Moahna (a unique band!) guitarist Henrik Flyman and original Royal Hunt vocalist Henrik Brockmann. I admit I was unaware of the band's history, so I was impressed to read that 2004's Welcome To The Show debut featured guest keyboard credits from none others than Mats Olausson (Y. Malmsteen), Andre Andersen (Royal Hunt) and Richard Andersson (Majestic, Space Odyssey). Not bad! Still, not being familiar with this specific effort, I was more curious to see what Theatrical Madness could do to my ears. 3 x 45' 53'' minutes later, it was all simpler and my test proved to be - I think - successful.
Theatrical Madness features various neoclassical elements, yet not that much in the Y. Malmsteen way someone might have imagined. Backed up by a heavy/prog sound, eleven tracks present top-skilled musicians with a wide range of influences but mostly focusing in bringing a melodic/symphonic Metal output. Andre Andersen, Richard Andersson and artistic Mikkel Jensen handle the keyboard duties, contributing at such level that the album can easily be described as a delight for keyboard fans. That doesn't mean that the album lacks of power! I strongly brought to my mind the style Blind Guardian have the last years - especially in the A Night At The Opera album, while Henrik Brockmann's voice many times sounds similar to my adored Bernard Weiss (Axxis).
This, indeed, baroque theatrical Metal album is produced by famous Tommy Hansen (TNT, Helloween, Pretty Maids etc) and - of course - there's no doubt; the sound is a killer factor! Not to forget, Witches Chant was originally written by William Shakespeare - and shaped by Henrik Flyman - and is based on the 1st scene of the 4th act from Macbeth.
King Diamond is theatrical, Royal Hunt surround the album, Queen (maybe) started it all and Metal Majesty's music is 99.99 % based on Queen's testament. I think I did well! You'll agree, if you're into this style, 'cause you definitely have to get this album!