- Brian L.
(Home
Theater Forum) USA - I need to take a moment to plug HTF member
Jeff Ulmer's new CD, Othyrworld - Beyond Into the Night of Day.
This is a wonderful recording, and gets my highest recommendation
for fans of melodic hard rock. I spoke positively of this back
when Jeff had only posted a few samples to generate pre-orders.
Now having given my first listen to the entire CD, I can say that
my first impressions were spot on...a wonderful, wonderful piece
of work this is. If you listen closely, you will hear little bits
and pieces that bring to mind Queensryche, Sabbath, Metallica,
and Rush among others, but don't get the idea that there is anything
on here that is in any way a copy of anything else. To my ears,
it all sounds refreshingly original.
Some of the riffing would make James Hetfield and Tony Iommi take
notice, and there is a fantastic sense of light and shade, with
some beautifully orchestrated guitar parts. And the soundstage
is huge.
Now that I am acclimatized to 5.1 Hi-Rez stuff, I normally listen
to 2 CH recordings with the EARS ambience extraction mode of
my NAD 762...for the moment I pushed "play" I was never even remotely
tempted to do that. I may in the future just for yucks, but this
is a wonderful 2 CH recording that stands on its own
Note to Jeff: Having said that, a 5.1 DVD-A would surely by killer!
And let me make a comment or two about the sound quality. This
is a fabulous recording, maybe one of the best that I have purchased
in a long, long time. In fact, I would probably say that the last
time I bought a CD of new rock music with sound quality this good,
it was Queensryche's Empire, way back in the day.
The CD back cover says that this is an all digital recording (DDD...when
was the last time you saw that on a CD?). While it is an unfortunate
reality that the vast majority of new rock recordings sound terrible
(even mediocre sounding stuff like the new Green Day is passed
off as good sounding in the age of compression and maximization)
this is a wonderfully smooth piece, with an incredible bass/drum
sound. The cymbals, normally the Achilles heal of modern rock
records, sounds oh so smooth, even when things get loud. I don't
know how Jeff pulled that off, but the SQ (sound quality) on this
disc embarrasses most any contemporary rock recording you could
name.
OK, so what are you waiting for? Do yourself and your stereo a
favor, and go to the web site (www.othyrworld.com) and buy this
disc......if you like this type of music, you won't regret it.
- Thilo Meiswinkel
(Germany) - Othyrworld - Beyond Into The Night Of Day
As most of the songs are known from the Sacred Blade album listening
to "Beyond Into The Night Of Day" is very much like 'coming home'.
If "Of The Sun + Moon" was a child it has grown up now to a man
with a child in his eyes.
The sound of the remastered first album was so much better than
the original release, but this time the production is awesome.
It's really a pleasure to listen to these great songs having such
a great sound now.
I really like the new songs, "Ethereal Skyline" is great and the
killer riffs from "Right Ascension" remind me on early Sanctuary/Savatage.
The new songs fit themselves in perfectly. Vocals on "The Alignment"
were a little bit strange first, but the more I listen to the
song the more I like it. "Odyssey Of Light" is beautiful.
Listening to the new Moon really makes me happy, I was a little
bit afraid that you could have 'killed' the song. I really like
the Ayltuthus I-Reprise at the end, this is the perfect Intro/Outro
for listening to the album in repeat mode.
Finally the artwork is great also, reminds me on PC games like
Myst/Riven. It's interesting to see how much the color is changing
the picture.
Congratulations to you and Ted, "Beyond Into The Night Of Day"
became the perfect 'Director's Cut' of one of the best albums
ever released. If I would compare the album with a movie I definitely
had to name it "Blade Runner".
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