Mighty and great
Nils Hagen | 7540 Klębu Norway | 07/23/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Finally..it's here...this is mighty music to digest from the American based power rock band with the Japanese name. They have a new line up too, because Takara has been around for some years, and now they really have found some good creativity and joy.
The legendary Jeff Scott Soto was the bands lead singer for many years, but left the band to go solo, with success, and Michael Flatters replaced Soto behind the microphone stand. Along with their new drummer, Chad Clark, and new keyboardist, Brook Hansen, the "oldies" Neal Grusky (guitar) and Carl Demarco (bass) booked a studio. They stayed there for about a whole year, and now, the album "Perception of reality" is here. And the last time we had such creamy yum-yums to enjoy, was Dream Theater's "Scenes from a Memory". Here we hear some great instrument treatment, delicate use of synths and an over all strong vocal performance. Michael Flatters uses his voice and singing ability to the maximum, and goes well along with Takaras music. He avoids becoming exhausting, like some hard rock band singers. All in all this is a superb performance from Takara, with some progressiveness, and a lot of melodic, heavy, powerful rock. And they also give us a wonderful ballad.The CD has a tight and good mood, thanks to Takara's skilfulness. Songs like "Without You", "Shadows in the night", and "Simple man" are reasons enough to buy the record. And we find more good songs here. This is probably the best Takara release, and one of the best albums in this genre, ever. I bet the audience at the concerts uses their BIC and Cricket lighters, and sings along when Flatters & co starts up and does my favourite song, "Tomorrow". The only negative thing to say, is that this album, "Perception of reality", is only 38 minutes. These 38 minutes goes fast, when you have good company like Takara."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1