Sandstone – Cultural Dissonance

Releasedate: 28-10-2011; Label: Limb Music
By: Lara Cappelli

Formed in 2003, Sandstone is a power/progressive metal band from Ireland. “Cultural Dissonance” is their third release, following “Purging The Past” which got noticed also by Iron Maiden’s singer Bruce Dickinson who referred to it as “the most impressive album to come out of Ireland for years”.

One might say that “Cultural Dissonances” comes to the listener with quite some variation in between the songs. Soon it gets evident that the only element to hold steady is Sean McBay’s voice, which is hitting quite some high notes from “Reckless Thought “ already, and so it will do throughout the rest of the album. When the listening goes by, the variation mentioned before comes forward: power metal meets heavy and slight progressive influences. The fault in that is not to have kept this variation within the songs themselves, but only between them. The result of that is nothing but a succession of songs differing so much one from another, that don’t seem to have that much in common: power metal sounds, followed by heavier ones with some orchestral elements thrown in, and some melodic parts that risk to drift into pop rock (“No More”). Also, Sean McBay’s voice doesn’t have that much impact on the listener, which of course doesn’t help the album in finding its balance at all. It seems like Sandstone wanted to come up with something spiced to hold the attention, but all they got here was a tangle that apparently lacks of any sense. The ambition was maybe so high, that they lost the ultimate aim of it, delivering an album that doesn’t show to have a clear direction.

Line Up:
Sean McBay – Vocals, Guitar
David McLaughlin – Bass
Stevie McLaughlin – Guitar
Dan Lafford – Drums

Links:
Sandstone Facebook
Sandstone Official