Since Evanescence set charts alight due to the mass love directed at them by MTV spoon-fed ‘non-conformists’ there has been an overwhelming increase in the number of female fronted metal acts vying for the attention of our ears. Some of these acts, such as Nightwish and Lacuna Coil, had a deserved introduction to the mainstream after paying their dues and deserved their spot. Others however, have since cropped up out of nowhere, and began peddling watered down garbage with the hope that having a feminine face at the helm would separate them from their peers, cheapening the efforts of the aforementioned bands. I have absolutely nothing against female vocalists in metal, a lot of them are blindingly good at what they do, I just all too often encounter the use of them to pedal music which would otherwise go unnoticed.

On the back of that unrestrained rant I would like to introduce, entering stage left, Morning. A Dutch 6 piece formed in 2000, and after the release of 3 demos over the course of 4 years the band was finally signed up by Black Lotus records in the summer of 2004. Hour of Joy is their debut effort and after seven or eight listens I am left heavily unimpressed. The band refers to their style as ‘dream metal’ which in essence is a combination of ‘power metal meets nu metal’ riffs and drumming, heavy use of synth, choirs and sprinklings of progressive elements in the form of some odd melodies and time changes.

One thing that struck me very early on was how the entire record revealed itself on the first listen. I have never been against accessibility as if it wasn’t for it’s sporadic existence in metal I would never have had the desire to discover so many of the bands I now love with a passion. But many years and countless albums and gigs later I am undeniably turned off by a record that fails to surprise me or reveal anything new after the third listen, and that my friends, is unfortunately what’s on offer here.

The sound is undeniably epic, but yet fails spectacularly to have the emotional impact of a lot of it’s contemporaries. The main reason for this is that while epic, it is not complex and thus ends up being sprawling and bland and within two minutes of any track I feel my interest slip away like my sobriety on New Years Eve. Take for instance ‘When Shadows Dance in Light’ starting off with a ‘spooky’ choir intro jerking awkwardly into a rather bland riff accompanied by Van Heugten’s rather bland vocals. This lasts approximately forty seconds before changing completely to a different yet equally bland riff accompanied by a two chord seesaw synth progression. Forty seconds later and it’s changed again…..you get the general idea. This structureless veering from one sound to another continues unabated on many tracks such as ‘The Unknown is Searching the Unfound’ and ‘Perception of Feelings’. I think the problem here may be that they have interpreted Prog as a mindless jarring between sounds and tempo, which in some cases it can be, but the mindless jarring is usually held together with some sort on continuity or structure.

I won’t go into an in depth track by track breakdown as none stand out as amazing or utterly dire. If the whole album is listened to in one sitting I tend to find myself zoning in and out, forgetting which track I’m on, the boredom making the whole thing meld together. The only unusual elements here are the title track which is obvious single material but brought down by some severely banal lyrics ‘This is where we gather, oh the great escape, where it’s happening, so now let’s rock this stage’ Please won’t you join me in a long bout of wincing. The other track I’d like to mention is the Queen cover of ‘The Show Must Go On’ which is tolerable if covers are your things, but it happens to be the last track on the album. All I can say is that if you can’t finish an album with one of your own songs, you know you have problems

All in all, I recommend you avoid this one. Unless the band has a massive injection of creativity and starts entertaining instead of emulating, I can’t see any earth shattering contributions emanating from them in the future.