Ceramoniah - 'Mind's Eye'

Rock album that's available for free.

Ceramoniah comprises a couple of guys from Stroud who have attempted "to capture a simple classic rock vibe with some catchy guitar-oriented tunes…" and have largely succeeded in recording an album that achieves these aims – albeit with vocals that frequently sound as though they come from someone who has a strangulated hernia. If you can successfully navigate these and also the rather banal lyrics (that I suppose attempt to be very "R&R") then you will find one or two (flawed) gems amongst the eleven tracks presented on 'Mind's Eye': particularly 'Call Of The Wild', 'Execute The Masterplan' (which I think fades too soon) and 'Pray Too Soon' (with a somewhat better vocal performance).

The two Shauns (Attwood: guitars, keys, synths and XLN Drums, and Stein: vocals and guitars) are joined on five of the tracks by guitarist Neil Hibbs and his incredible shredding is more than a redeeming (and even inspired) ingredient on opening song 'Journey's End', the atmospheric 'Ride The Storm' and the instrumental tracks 'Event Horizon' and 'On The Edge': although both of these are, I feel, under-developed.



The album comes with two bonus tracks: 'Lounge Lizards' and 'Lost Among The Clouds'. The former is a throwaway (50 second) instrumental. However, LATC is undoubtedly the best thing on the entire album: a great song with inspired instrumentation and better vocals. If this is a pointer to any future output from Ceramoniah then it is to be warmly encouraged.

I'm sure the guys would like you to purchase their album, but they have also made it available for free download at www.reverbnation.com/ceramoniah. Do go and investigate.

Paul Jerome Smith