LIQUID SOCIETY – From Dreams To Reality [Deluxe Edition] (2014)

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LIQUID SOCIETY hails from Seinäjoki, Finland, starting its activities in 2008. After shows all over Scandinavia and three self-released EP’s locally distributed, the band is ready to present world-wide their full length debut “From Dreams To Reality“.
This Deluxe Edition features 2 bonus tracks and a slightly different cover artwork.

Liquid Society plays a very melodic mixture of prog metal and hard rock, pretty straightforward and without sympho or ‘operistic’ twists. The focus on “From Dreams To Reality” is to rock you with lots of hot (yet polished) guitar riffs and ever-present melodies.
Although Tiina Autio is a female, her vocals many times makes you think about a mid-range male singer, while on the calm moments the lady’s register is sweet and highly harmonic. This turns Liquid Society’s sound always interesting from song to song.
As said, this band has a prog metal foundation but with a hard rock style overall without getting overly progressive in nature. In fact the songs are all fairly compact, the longest one clocking in at 5 minutes.
The entire band seems quite talented at songwriting. Whether the songs start off with a keyboard intro or a cutting guitar, they will grab you right from the start. Many are incredibly catchy, and you will not be able to resist bobbing your head along to the tunes.

But make no mistake, this material is laced with heavy guitars that keep things gratifyingly in the ‘rocking’ zone. Mikko Parkkonen and Manu Lenkkeri are total riff-groove masters. The lead breaks are appropriately short and melodious; since the songs are fairly short in length you don’t need long drawn out unnecessary solos.
There are a few brief bass parts and intros where you can really hear what a nice thick sound the 4-string has.
Mika Autio uses keyboards with more of an electro and piano sound, as opposed to a symphonic style, helping to set the band apart from so many others. I must say that the keys add a lot to the band’s musical character.
There are some string sounds present in the songs, but they’re set more in the background.

The first full song after the intro piece, “Storyteller”, has a lighter, keyboard driven quality that makes it the most ‘commercial’ track on the CD. It’s catchy a appealing.
“Dreams” is another track with a contagious rhythm and verses which bring to mind Queensryche. Tiina hit some pretty impressive high notes here, and in the choruses of “The Island” as well.
She also writes terrific melodies, which play a big part in making the songs more memorable. Interestingly, as the album name implies, Tiina’s wonderful lyrics seem to progress from dreams and fantasy to the realities of life and relationships.

Other strong tunes are the marching yet very melodic “Sleep” with its driving hard rock guitars, melancholic keys and haunting vocal melodies, and “The Burning” which just takes off full speed ahead and keeps going.
There are some male grunts used on the heavy “Nightwalkers” and while I will confess that I’m not a fan of this vocal technique, it works very well on this track… these are the ‘Nightwalkers’ of the title.
“The Guttersnipe Song” is quite thunderous from start to finish and is one of my favorites, and so is the closing track “The Island”. This is achieved not only through heavy guitars but a nice big drum sound, and Jere Haapala plays with a solid punch style which is well suited to the songs.
This Deluxe Edition features two bonus, a shorter, remixed video version of “The Island”, and the dynamic, hard rockin “Escape”, rich in melodic riffs.

I think the best way to describe “From Dreams To Reality” is ‘melodic energy’, as most of the songs on this album are bursting with it. With their gift for writing extremely catchy tunes anchored by a solid prog metal / hard rock foundation, I think Liquid Society could appeal to a very wide audience.
Production wise, this album is very good. Everything is super clear, there is good separation and all the instruments sound quite awesome.
Liquid Society band isn’t very well known yet outside Scandinavia, so I hope everyone will pick up this solid and always interesting album and help spread the word about this strong new band.
Hey, they’re from Finland so you know they’re gonna be pretty darn good!

01 – Prologue
02 – Storyteller
03 – Nightwalkers
04 – Sleep
05 – Dreams
06 – Phoenix Syndrome
07 – The Reckoning
08 – Heart of Stone
09 – The Guttersnipe Song
10 – Never Enough
11 – The Burning
12 – The Island
13 – The Island [2014 Video Version] (Bonus Track)
14 – Escape (Bonus Track)

Tiina Autio – Vocals
Mikko Parkkonen – Guitars
Manu Lenkkeri – Guitars
Mika Autio – Keyboards
Ville Kokko – Bass
Jere Haapala – Drums
thanks to John Davies

BUY IT !
www.liquidsocietyband.com
www.amazon.co.uk/Dreams-Reality-Liquid-Society/dp/B00MEO015O
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