While working on the Arrival CD, Majestic released a collection of songs from their first two releases plus some previously unreleased tracks that either didn’t fit the mood or time constraint of those albums. The name of this album collection is Sampler 09. Jeff Hamel is the main musician/singer on all the tracks.
“Visions” contains some excerpts from the Doctor Who episode “Rose” which is very cool since I’m a big fan of the show, so any band that takes something from Doctor Who gets extra points from me.
All the songs are very symphonic and almost spacey at times. I’m very impressed with the extra tracks as they have a “finished” feel to them, unlike some bands that don’t go past a rough demo format.
The closing track “Weak” is one of my favorites along with “Visions”. It also contains one of Jeff’s finest vocal part of his career (so far). Just like “Visions” it’s one of the longer songs that clock in shy of the ten minute mark.
If you’re a fan or new to the band, Sampler 09 is a good representation of Majestic at the time. Those that are new to the band, should look into this sampler as a starting point. I can strongly recommend this album. Maybe this sampler will help by adding more to the fan base.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on July 2nd, 2010
