857. Level 10 / Chapter One. 2015. 3.5/5

Is it just me, or is there a lot more of band hopping and project jumping going on now than has ever occurred before? Seriously, there used to be bands that musicians would be a part of... until they either quit or were sacked, and then they would move on to something else. Nowadays, it appears that some musicians have two or three bands that they spread their time between, recording and then touring, and then doing the same with one or more of their 'other' bands. I mean, I understand in this day and age that you need to tour to make money, but how many bands can you have before they begin to overlap and start causing problems? Tobias Sammet does it with Edguy and Avantasia, Kai Hansen once did it with Gamma Ray and Iron Savior, and now with Gamma Ray and Unisonic, but any more than that would be ludicrous... wouldn't it?...

So here we have yet another 'supergroup' gathering, titled Level 10, and their debut effort Chapter One. It features some serious talent, though how they find the time to write and record is beyond me. It's core consists of bass guitarist Mat Sinner, who not only plies his trade in Primal Fear but also his own band Sinner, and vocalist Russell Allen, who has a dozen projects going at once, including his main gig in Symphony X and another in Adrenaline Mob. These two have also utilised the talents of Roland Grapow, who apart from helming Masterplan was also a part of Serious Black and their release earlier this year.
To the album itself, and while it is enjoyable, it comes across as 'harmless' and doesn't inspire anything new or out of the ordinary. The songs are generic in a way that that doesn't cover you in boredom, but also doesn't often generate any true excitement in the offering either. You can't help but like songs like "Cry No More", which opens the album in a positive frame of mind, and "When the Nighttime Comes", which mix great harmony vocals from Russell with great riffs and soloing from Roland and Alex Beyrodt. "Blasphemy" too falls into this group, while "In For the Kill" starts off on the right foot in speed and riffage, ticking most of the boxes that a band of this calibre should be able to. Unfortunately the averageness of the other tracks tends to overshadow this good work by making it hard for the album to retain momentum.
There has to be the power ballad, and the one produced here, "All Hope is Gone", follows the same path as almost very power ballad ever written. Yep, it's clichéd, it is slow and monotonous, it whines, the guitar solo is supposed to empathise but just embodies regurgitation. It follows all of the instructions in the 'power ballad' textbook. What gets me is that, also according to the textbook, it is followed up by an immediately up-tempo song that attempts to kick start the album again like a dying heart attack patient. "Demonized" does a reasonable job of this, but why oh why can albums and bands of this genre be so predictable? Just don't DO it!! "The Soul is Eternal" is a solid track as well, while the album closes with the excellent "Forevermore", which acts as a reminder of the talent gathered in the band.

With all of the terrific people involved in this band, I really wanted to like this more than I eventually did. The material is just far too varied throughout, never really settling into a groove that allows you to enjoy the album overall, rather than just picking out selected tracks that do it for you. No doubt these variances come from too many cooks in the writing broth. Perhaps just letting the major influences in the band have their hand... well... maybe that wouldn't work either. Surely a follow up to this will come sometime in the future, and if it does, hopefully a discussion about what worked and what didn't will make that release all the better for it.

Rating:  I'm pleading with the true believers, you're needed to expose the lies.  3.5/5