Year : 2024
Style : Progressive Heavy Power Metal
Country : Germany
Audio : 320 kbps + front
Size : 106 mb
Bio:
The Leipzig formation, which defined its style as prog/power/metal, was an institution in the local music scene throughout its existence and was long regarded as the greatest East German hope in terms of hard and sophisticated rock.Founded in 1990 as a purely instrumental art rock band, it quickly made a name for itself as a hard-working concert group that took every opportunity to perform in front of an audience and always received excellent reviews. As their popularity grew, so did the standard of their concerts, which soon mutated into spectacles of light, fire and sound, offering a sensational entertainment factor by underground standards. In addition, Factory Of Art was a popular support act for larger bands that played in Leipzig and the surrounding area, not least because of their professional appearance. The list is incredibly long and includes many illustrious names. With their successful participation in various band competitions, the musicians of Factory Of Art further cemented their reputation and gained a steadily growing following.Of course, the band's independent and original music - Factory's peculiar rhythms and song structures can still be easily recognised today - had to be captured on recordings. Initially, several demos were released, which never had to wait long for buyers and are now sought-after rarities, until the deal followed and the band debuted with the longplayer "Grasp!!!" on AFM Records. After a musical crisis of purpose and the resulting compromise production "Point Of No Return", Factory Of Art reformed and took off again with a new team.The single "Story Of Pain" was a resounding success, culminating in first place in the "Unerhört!" competition organised by the renowned ROCK HARD magazine. It was to be the last. The excellent concept album "The Tempter" turned out to be a disaster in terms of sales, the career of the likeable Saxon sextet fizzled out until it finally disappeared from the scene altogether (2006 - last concert for the time being). (Knechtel Family, published at deutsche-mugge.de) ...but not forever!A best-of mixture of musicians from different decades of the band with both lead singers is now (2019) preparing to take to the country's stages again from time to time.
Album:
Ahoy you landlubbers! It's been quiet around me for a while now, so I'm all the more pleased that the first Factory of Art album in over 20 years has washed up on my shore. It's called "Back to Life" and will be released on 7th June this year. But let's listen to what the boys from Leipzig have come up with.Back to Life...It's a very fitting title, considering that some of the future listeners weren't even born when the last album was released. "Abysses" as the first track immediately whets the appetite for more. After a relatively short intro, it continues melodically and hard. That's how my metal heart likes it. And "Burning Wings" builds directly on this before continuing with "Blessing In Disguise". A song that is almost a little too calm and melodic in places, and thus incorporates its very own artistic freedom. Subtleties that reveal a clear style. "Silent Room" then becomes subtly heavier again, but still remains true to the melodic style until "Walking To The Place I Love" closes the first half of what has been a good album so far.It's almost like a small revelation. Because from the middle of the album it gets darker, more metal-heavy with significantly more prog influences. "Decadence" then turns the power lever almost all the way up to set the mood for the following track "The Truth". The penultimate song, "Behind The Lines", is a good example of the band's instrumental playing. And finally "Back To The Life", the eponym of the album. The song really kicks ass, and at the end you're almost sad that it really was the last song and the playlist either starts again or the disc stops playing. You know the problems of the modern world. Ha! 20 years is a damn long time, and in this case it was even more. But since good things take time, you can take the good old German universal compliment: "You can't complain". Factory of Art have earned a solid 4.5/6 skulls for their good and solid album, which you should definitely buy when it's released.
Line-Up:
Jens Schmikale - Vocals (1998-present) - See also: ex-Main Machine, Factory Under Cover
Thoralf Schulze - Guitars (2004-2006, 2019-present) - See also: ex-Grain of Sand
Ronald Losch - Bass (1990-present)
Gunter Lange - Vocals, Keyboards (1991-1998, 2019-present)
Ralph-Marcel Dietrich - Drums (1998-2004, 2019-present)
Tracklist:
01. Abysses 7:25
02. Burning Wings 4:07
03. Blessing In Disguise 5:31
04. Silent Room 7:40
05. Walking To The Place I Love 5:36
06. Face Behind The Mask 3:58
07. Decadence 7:25
08. The Truth 4:00
09. Behind The Lights 4:49
10. Back To The Life 4:03
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
