Hailing from the great nordic country of Denmark, guitar hero Niels Vejlyt remains determined, clearly focused on his craft, standing against the grain, fructifying on his musical superiority and proud of his guitar wizardry...Displaying all his gift on this sophomore CD "The Winter Symphony", his second solo opus for posterity under the moniker of SAGE'S RECITAL!

Of course, in a world where the mediocrity is the norm, where the genius and artists are considered outcasts, it's not easy to find a good channel to express an high profile music without the eyebrows rising move and other mimic of exasperation, and all the incomprehension of the narrow minded people...The brainless geeks behind their laptops are deaf and their venomous critics are the only thing that defines them differently from vegetables...You know me well now and you've already perceived my disgust toward the praise for the ordinary truth, the main single thinking aka the universal ideology rule, wrapped in the politically correct way...In music, the second-rate choice in opposition to the elitist challenging composition, or the formated/pre chewed, already digesting, three minutes track in a lyric video, instead of a selected rewarding listening piece with talented written twist turns and intriguing details, like song #3 "King Of Old", with a full richness of skilled instrumentation, far from the low level of the daily mainstream plastic soup!

In an increasingly worse tendency, the meaningless world, where a silly flattery to the average minds allows the sale of advertising and where the fuc*** Kardashians are our only referential for the future generations ( ?)...A void for cleverness and insult to subtlety...Behind this pessimistic statement, the courage to walking against the wind out of this sterile goal, is a hopeful & a pretty louable action, kuddos to Niels Vejlyt to have the guts...All this makes me sick and i'll always be on the side of the defenders for those scorned and inconsiderate virtuosic musicians lost in a incredulous mercantile universe versus the race to the bottom, which is the easiest way to satisfy the so-called democratic masses, their need for stupidity and the will by the politicians to encourage their laziness of spirit!

I will be as honest as ever, "The Winter Symphony" is not by any means an easy listening consensual album far from it, it's a very dense Neo-Classical influenced Melodic Power Metal yet ambitious and somehow evolutionary, modern and consequent...Maybe it could difficult to swallow for a minority, however the rewards are instantaneous for those who carry on, Niels Vejlyt took all the trademark strengths of his previous works (INFINTY OVERTURE) and combined them in one masterpiece...In this album titled "The Winter Symphony", the project SAGE'S RECITAL has reached its full maturity, and never sounded heavier, never more progressive and never more complex, but a real focus was intended placed in the hooks, as Danish Maestro Niels Vejlyt have managed successfully to combine his compositions with sonic elements that sound more catchy, addictive, infectious and even more melodic than ever.

Of course, the album featuring ex-ARTENSION frontman John West on lead vocals is largely inspired from the heritage of the Classical masters, some excerpts from a few famous symphonic pieces are evoked (notably Beethoven's superb "Moonlight Sonata" in the longest eponymous and antepenultimate track) to legitimate those forty five minutes of demanding music, which are destinated to please all the lovers of modern guitar, a real Shred fest set in the most grandiose mode (containing two short instrumental cuts)...Heavily orchestrated this album is a good exemple that those Symphonic arrangments could be done in respect for the term and not obviously in a cheesy process!

But we all know that with the presence of competent American singer John West (ex-ROYAL HUNT/ex-ATLANTICA) we could count on some first class vocal performances -beside the expected avalanche of fast arpeggios, Lead Guitar blast and the lava smoking fretboard frenzy-...And indeed Mr West provides effectively a very energetic croon in his most classy method, "Shooting Star" or "Queen of the Winter" has both the potential to remind me strongly the splendour of the Early ARTENSION style...ex-LABYRINTH/RHAPSODY OF FIRE/ VISION DIVINE singer Fabio Lione, now fronting ANGRA, is also featured in the backing vocalist role and also a member of the choir in the mammoth epic title track, clocking at a little more than twenty minutes! <