Following the demise of his band Crowned In Earth, Kevin Lawry has clearly been a very busy man. His debut album ‘The Shadows Stole The Dawn‘ is quite an amalgamation of styles. There’s a distinct 70’s prog rock vibe running through the selection of songs with strong hints of folk thrown in for good measure. Musically speaking this is actually very good stuff. Clever well thought out layers with some nice arrangements that don’t out stay their welcome. Kevin, a multi instrumentalist, has obviously given the songs a lot of time and thought and it definitely shows. The man knows how to craft a good song. Unfortunately where the album falls flat for me is the vocals. I don’t want to bash the guy but the lacklustre vocal delivery really lets this album down massively. It might have worked for Dylan and Cohen but here it just adds a weakness that wasn’t there. My personal view point is Mr Lawry should have either got himself a singer who can actually compliment the great music he has written or just put this out as an instrumental album with a few more clever layers and tweaks. Either would have worked better than this. And I get no pleasure in saying that. I want to be blown away by a singer not reaching for the off button! However that being said I would still recommend this album to fans of early Genesis and Camel. Some of the tracks have a cool movie score feel and I love that. ‘The Shadows Stole The Dawn‘ is out on November the 11th and if 70’s style prog rock is your thing, check it out and make up your own mind. Vocals aside this is still worth a listen.
Released 11th November 2016
Musically speaking this is actually very good stuff. Clever well thought out layers with some nice arrangements that don't out stay their welcome.
