A well meaning and well played idea.

Italy's Eldritch have put together a conceptual album based on Al Gore's global warming end of the world prophecy 'An Inconvenient Truth'. To be honest the concept of this sounds a little overblown to really grab the listener's attention, so the music really has to hit the mark to carry the message, I believe.
The standard is set with the opening track 'Deviation' which is a progressive soup of double bass drum kicks, chugging bass lines and noodling guitars. It is certainly very clever but just how interesting is another matter. To get this kind of message across, I feel a more simple approach would bring more light to the lyrical content.

If you could imagine Annihilator doing progressive rock then you get some idea of 'Our Land' with its furious guitar work. Despite some rather clunky lyrics the majestic qualities of the chorus shine through in a style very reminiscent of Dream Theatre! Various sound bites from Al Gore are sprinkled in between songs to remind us there is a message here. Unfortunately 'Vortex of Disasters' loses us in a sea of guitar interplay and the message almost becomes an afterthought. It is only when the pace of the album is slowed down with 'Mother Earth' that the elegant musical ideas give the lyrical content a chance to breathe.

Again 'Through Different Eyes' less frantic pace lets the song deliver the message more seductively with a strong vocal melody and with the band playing to their strengths.

I might name check Queensryche as a comparison when listening to 'Signs' and it is nice to hear the song structure taking precedent over the ability to almost show off. 'Like a Child' is another that suffers from sounding like a mish-mash and the change of pace becomes confusing as it sounds like two different songs battling it out for domination.

At times the band really get it right and a good example is 'Everything's Burning' as the words are spat out with a real sense of menace and foreboding .The song has its roots clearly set in the thrash metal genre which has always served apocalyptic ideas well, I have always thought.

All in all, 'Gaia's Legacy' is a well meaning and well played idea. However, despite all the hard work, it falls short of its desired goal owing to the music rendering so much of the message somewhat obscure.

Ray Paul