Pictorial Wand is a brand new symphonic progressive rock project from Norway where the instruments are done mostly by Mattis Sorum, Along with Mattis, there is also a long list of support musicians to help him flesh out his musical visions. The ambitious debut double cd release is called A Sleeper’s Awakening. It tells a story including bits about the 7 Deadly Sins.
There’s many styles on this album ranging from mellow folk to metallic to symphonic passages.
Unlike most concept albums, I find the cheese factor to be very low which makes the listen all the more enjoyable. The music never gets too complex, the instrumental passages never stray far from the foundation of each of the songs. It all flows very well from beginning to end.
One band that comes to mind when I listen to this album is, Ayreon. The only difference is that Ayreon is rooted more in a metallic sound where as Pictorial Wand expands into other non-metallic areas of music.
I look forward to more from Pictorial Wand. Maybe a permanent line-up to help Mattis concentrate on the lyrical and instrumentation content. This is yet another fantastic release from Unicorn Digital (formerly Unicorn Records). I would recommend this to fans of symphonic progressive rock as well as melodic rock & metal. This is one of those gem of a release that hopefully won’t go under the radar. Get your hands on a copy today. It’s a very enjoyable listen. Isn’t that what it’s really all about anyways?!
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on July 12th, 2006
