Shape Of Water - 'Great Illusions' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Mars-X

2. Scar

3. Perfect Love

4. Still Karma

5. In Your Arms

6. A Silvia

7. Not All The Things

8. Five Days To Shine

9. The World Is Calling Me

10. Great Illusion

Shape of Water. Up to now, a phrase most usually associated with a film. Right? Well, here is a band set on changing that.

The first track, 'Mars-X', offers a gentle keyboard opening, inviting you into the album before giving way to a heavy guitar groove. This is a meaningful introduction by the band and sets out the expansive, rich-sounding Rock that is to come.

As the album progresses you get more of a sense of the duo as musicians, hearing how they blend a crunching Rock sound with swirling, ethereal keyboards - a complimentary balance of weight and lightness. And on top of this are vocals infused with such emotion you can almost share their feeling at times, particularly when the pace drops in songs like 'Still Karma'.

For a debut offering, the album is impressively recorded and produced. The range and control of the sound and effects keeps the record sounding fresh throughout, while still retaining enough core to tie the songs into together to form a whole. This is a band which clearly has a strong idea of the sound it wants, and is skilled and equipped enough to realise and release it.

Standout track : Scar