Lately, I’ve been trying to enjoy and review the remaining releases of the 2008. I’ve also been trying my best to decide what will be on my “best of 08″ list (currently in progress here). I just barely finished this little write-up on Forgive Durden’s “musical” Razia’s Shadow, which if released any other year, probably would be on my top 10 list, Check it out:

4/5

Razia’s Shadow is the follow up to one of my favorite albums ever: Wonderland. While Wonderland was considered to many to be just recreation and ripoff of the sound pioneered by scene-mates Gatsbys American Dream, there was something about it that kept me coming back and that etched itself into the back of my mind. It never gets old and will always be one that I cherish.

Fast foward two years. Forgive Durden is back sans 3 members leaving only vocalist/guitarist Thomas Dutton to carry the Forgive Durden torch. Razia’s Shadow is nothing like wonderland. Razia’s Shadow, a musical co-written by Dutton’s brother is an epic (while generic) story of love,loss and hope following two main characters through their stories of loss and redemption. The musical features narraration by Aaron Weiss of mewithoutYou whom lends his eccentric voice to the story. Weiss fearlessly nails the part, and creates one of my favorite aspect of the album, however biased I may be.

The musical also features other scene giants throughout, with standouts including Max Bemis (Say Anything), Lizzie Huffman (Man in the Blue Van) , and Brendon Urie (Panic at the Disco). While the musical begins with force, it faulters in it’s density, causing the middle part of the album to be almost completely skippable from Chris Conley’s track all the way up to the debut of the Hush Sound’s female vocalist Greta Salpeter. The album returns to form with both Nic Newsham (Gastbys American Dream) and Shawn Harris’s (The Matches) appearances, ending with the gorgeous closer “The End and The Beginning” featuring Urie and Salpeter.

For the most part, Razia’s Shadow lives up to it’s hype. With it’s many guest appearances, it’s hard to see how it wouldn’t. There is only a select few that didn’t really work out. Both Chris Conley’s (Saves The Day) and Danny Steven’s (The Audition) appearances sound forced and boring. While the story is ultimately an uplifting experience, Dutton’s lyricism gets a bit forced and cheesy at times, but with the theme and storyline of the musical being as it is, it’s hard to see how it wouldn’t.

Ultimately, Razia’s Shadow is a solid album by a young ambitious musician with a very bright future. While it doesn’t come close to the off-kilter pop-rock that made me fall in love with Forgive Durden on “Wonderland”, Razia’s Shadow is a piece that I will always respect.

Related posts: (Hopefully! This is auto-generated)

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