MELTED SPACE – The Great Lie (Sensory/The Laser’s Edge)

Although not possessing quite the clout of Arjen Anthony Lucassen’s Ayreon or Tobias Sammet’s Avantasia projects Melted Space’s latest offering is still quite an expansive body of work. The brainchild of Pierre Le Pape, Melted Space already have two full-length releases and an EP to their name – ‘There’s A Place’ (2009), ‘From The Past’ (2012) and ‘Between’ (2013) respectively – and although the band has moved on from its original instrumental roots Le Pape has most certainly paid his dues.

‘The Great Lie’ covers all the bases from the bombastic symphonic metal you expect with such outings to some less refined but equally refreshing death metal – whatever style is necessary is called into play as befits the nature of the song. The guest list of musicians packs quite a hefty punch and the vocalists featured – amongst others; there are fourteen in total! – include the likes of Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquility), Kobi Fahri (Orphaned Land) Ailyn Gimenez Garcia (Sirenia), Sylvain Coudret (Soilwork) and Morbid Angel’s David Vincent: not a bad set of credentials, eh?

The songs are beautifully composed and executed, and the full backing of the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra gives the sound great depth and majesty. Le Pape himself provides piano and keyboards, with Adrien Grousset (guitars), Brice Guillon (bass) and Michael Saccoman (drums) rounding out the band. There’s a lot to comment on and not much space to do it in, but Tristania’s Mariangela Demurtas’ performance takes some beating, the sprawling ‘No Need To Fear’ is a truly epic composition, and the vocal interplay between Mnemic’s Guillaume Bideau and Mikael Stanne in ‘Trust & Betrayal’ is worth the price of the album alone. And did I mention that the aforementioned Arjen Anthony Lucassen pops up to solo on ‘The One Who Lost The Faith’? Thought not…

Hopefully ‘The Great Lie’ – and being signed to Sensory – will help Melted Space break out of France and reach a wider international audience, something this album so readily deserves. Stirring, stunning, spectacular… What’s not to like?