Let me be clear: I’m not completely dismissing ShadowPlay’s music. In fact, the first time I listened to ShadowPlay, I wanted to hear more. The band offers an appealing mix of symphonic, gothic, and progressive metal, with some electronic influences. Atmosphere dominates over intensity on "ShadowPlay," however. The guitars, drums, and arbitrary tempo changes and odd time signatures take a backseat to Guy Lillico’s graceful piano work and lush keyboards. This "symphonic" focus also allows for some fine vocal melodies and harmonies. Alitia Atkins takes the lead on most songs, while splitting the singing duties with drummer Duane Bonney on other tracks. Her delicate voice is the perfect complement for his clean, deeper vocals; and their stirring harmonies will make you hold your breath.

Most of the songs on "ShadowPlay" are quite slow, since ShadowPlay’s sound translates best into ballads. "Faded" is a pretty piano-led track that hints at anguish with balanced guitar riffs, while the rhythmic "Reveries" features a rousing, memorable chorus. "Unforgiven Years" shows the band’s more experimental side. It speeds up, then slows down, then whirls around in a squall of percussion, sitars, and spacey keyboards.

However, ShadowPlay truly hits its stride on the album’s second track, "Alone." The song begins with quiet guitar strumming and piano notes before building into an elegant, understated ballad. Then the choir-like chants come in, followed by an unexpected up-tempo guitar/synth instrumental, and you feel as though a gentle hand has reached in and touched your soul. It’s not a groundbreaking piece of music; Within Temptation, Nightwish, or [insert name of any similar-sounding female-fronted band] could have easily made a song like this. Yet, "Alone" is ShadowPlay’s work of art, and it’s inspiring and entrancing enough to be called just that.

After a while, though, the album’s pace gets too slow and predictable. You forget that "Everafter" nearly put you to sleep and the supposed epic "The Hour" lasted two minutes too long – simply because these songs are not all that memorable. ShadowPlay’s comfort with ballads is also obvious when the band tries some faster songs. Neither one is very strong: "Elegy" starts off with a commanding dance beat that’s more club-ready than metal, while "The Awakening" never recovers from its messy, synth-drowned intro. And, both tracks shed their quick pace for that familiar plodding we’ve heard in all the earlier songs.

With all of the pros and cons in mind, the best word I can use to describe "ShadowPlay" is… well, nice. It’s gentle, safe, and predictable – and so it’s more appropriate to call ShadowPlay’s music gothic metal rather than progressive metal. Other bands with the slightest progressive influence take more risks than this one does. "ShadowPlay" also reminds me of Within Temptation’s 2004 album "The Silent Force," a sentimental favorite of mine that many people criticized for being too soft on the metal and too heavy on the symphonics. ShadowPlay’s music lilts into this same "soft metal" realm and stays put. Some listeners won’t mind this, but others who are looking for something more robust or powerful will shelf this CD quickly.

That being said, ShadowPlay the band does do one thing well on this album: It maintains a tight focus on its vision of dreamy, melodic metal with a hint of melancholy. The end result is a bit underwhelming, yet "ShadowPlay" is still a listenable album and certainly the best the band could offer at the time, given the circumstances that made this album so difficult to complete. This is also not a bad album to introduce someone to female-fronted metal. And that could very well be ShadowPlay’s legacy: Its one and only album is good enough to hook new fans and hopefully inspire them to check out the true pioneers of this kind of music.

Best Songs: "Alone," "Faded"

7 / 10

"ShadowPlay" is currently not available at the Sonic Cathedral Store. However, you can purchase the album from CD Baby, Amazon, or iTunes worldwide.