01	Fall						02:37
	02	Overture						02:32
	03	Opaline						09:25
	04	The Morning Dew						06:02
	05	Castaways						05:32
	06	The Inner Dragon						09:23
	07	The Desert Gates						04:00
	08	A Powerful Wand						03:42
	09	Years						03:14
	10	Lovestalgia						03:56
	11	The Feast						01:56
	12	Finale						08:29

Silver Lining - "The Inner Dragon"
(from Musea Records 2004, FGBG 4558.AR)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Aural Innovations #29 (October 2004)

The Inner Dragon is the debut album from Silver Lining, featuring the musicianship of ex-Indelspeen members Nicolas Mourachko (guitar) and Pascal Indelicato (keyboards), with Michel Mourachko on bass, Annie Morel on violin, and Acid Dragon Magazine’s Theirry Sportouche narrating (and I think doing some of the singing as well). This album was a pure pleasure to listen to from its opening plaintive piano notes to its majestic finale. The Inner Dragon is gorgeous, melodic symphonic progressive rock in the tradition of Camel’s The Snow Goose. The musicianship is excellent, especially Annie Morel’s exquisite violin, which is what really tends to set this album apart from other similar efforts.

I’ve read some criticism of Theirry Sportouche’s narration in English with his thick French accent. Honestly, I get tired of hearing critics complain when singers from non-English speaking countries sing in their own language, and then complain when they sing in English with an accent. I love the sound of other languages, and I love the effect that accents have on English, and I think Sportouche’s voice and narration adds a wonderful flavor to the music. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t usually like spoken word on albums!

The songs range in length from around two minutes with The Feast to nearly 10-minutes with my favorite track, Opaline (which is a particular showcase for Morel’s magnificent violin). But this should be listened to as a whole, for indeed, it is a concept album, revolving around a Tolkeinesque story that is actually a metaphor for life, friendship, lost love, and death. To some, that may sound silly, especially since lyrics about forest sprites and dragons where one of the things that made progressive rock the whipping boy of so many critics in the 80’s, but the emotional and evocative music carries the theme well, and it never seems intrusive or out of place. Songs like the aforementioned Opaline and Morning Dew with its (perhaps unintentional?) nod towards Gentle Giant’s Two Weeks in Spain soar with a sense of excitement and adventure, and songs like the title track and The Desert Gates take a more introspective approach (while still remaining firmly within the realms of progressive rock).

Sometimes I like my music to be really challenging, but other times it’s nice to just sit back and listen to something as refreshing and easy to listen to as The Inner Dragon. With its flawless musicianship and emotional delivery, this album is a winner all the way.

For more information you can visit the Silver Lining web site at: http://perso.club-internet.fr/acidrago/silverlining.htm.
Visit the Musea Records web site at: http://www.musearecords.com.

Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald



Silver Lining - The Inner Dragon
Artist: Silver Lining
Title: The Inner Dragon
Label: Musea FGBG 4558.AR
Length(s): 61 minutes
Year(s) of release: 2004
Month of review: [01/2005]

Line up
Thierry Sportouche - voice
Nicolas Morachko - guitars, backing vocals
Pascal Indelicato - piano, keyboards
Annie Morel - violin, backing vocals
Michel Morachko - bass
with
Serge Tziganov - fretless bass on 3, 4 and 6
Alain Descombe - drums on 2, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 12

Tracks
1) Fall 2.38
2) Overture 2.32
3) Opaline 9.25
4) The Morning Dew 6.02 MP3
5) Castaways 5.32
6) The Inner Dragon 9.23
7) The Desert Gates 4.00
8) A Powerful Wand 3.42
9) (including Years) 3.14
10) Lovestalgia 3.56
11) The Feast 1.56
12) Finale 8.29

Summary
The first time I heard about this band, it was because of some music of theirs on a compilation of bands from Lyon, which reached me via Thierry Sportouche of Acid Dragon. Now here's the album, which features Thierry as the lyricist.
The music
The front cover may give a hint of amateurism, but Fall indicates that the band has a good sense of melody and atmosphere. The first tracks have spoken voice, the English is good, but obviously by a French man. The Overture is a great piece of work, very fast, up-beat, giving both hints of Arena (the guitars) and After Crying (the classicalness), but through the use of violin and the overall folky feel something very much of their own. Opaline shows that this is all not a coincidence. This song shows that the guitarist is a good student of Nick Barrett, and builds a strongly emotional and dramatic, slowly evolving piece of work, with the violin again providing an original identity. Now it has been some time, before this review that I played this cd last, but everything is instantly recognizable as if I have known this music long before. What I also like here that although the music is very melodic and what would generally be called, on the mellow side of symphonic rock, the guitar take off once in a while to deliver a chop of progmetal to keep things lively.
The Morning Dew is essentially quite similar: heavy and melodic passage alternate, with the violin and this time also the bass figuring quite prominently too. This song sounds more 'jammed', with the violin becoming quite active at times and the keyboards doing their bit of soloing as well. Castaways has a typical Clive Nolan melody (first Strangers On A Train album). This and some Minimum Vital combined with the catchiness of neo-prog from the SI bands is what we obtain here.

The Inner Dragon is another lengthy track, quite up-beat at times and with a nice flow. Fans of Landmarq ought to like this, although there are not many vocals. Since the vocals are not without accent, and the story itself is a fantasy tale, there might be people who view this as an advantage. Note though that beneath the fantasy tale is a story about death, love, friendship and violence (which is, I have been told, our inner dragon). The acoustic guitar and flowing violin lines add there melodic and soothing touch.

Past halfway we come to The Desert Gates. This song does not really fir in well with the rest. It has those Arabic chants (so well-known from overly commercial New Age albums). Chancey. On the other hand, A Powerful Wand, is a very commercial sounding piece and the band does not come away unscathed. When you do something like this, it ought to make a splash, and it does not come off as blistering as I would have hoped. The second part is more distinctive again with some nice guitar soloing, but also some more funky guitar work.

Lovestalgia opens with some nice melodies. The vocal chorus is rather up-beat and I am not sure about the lyrics here. Maybe they are a bit too open, too direct. But the band rocks away quite nicely, thank you. The Feast is a short interlude before the finale. Crackling firewood and acoustic guitar make for a Genesis feel, after which we run right into Finale, the lengthy closer. Time to build things up here, with repetitive guitars setting in. Time for the players to showcase their instrument. On the whole an up-beat piece. The result is a bit of a meandering piece with some good moments, but sometimes sounds more like a spun out version of a composition. The dragon has the last word.

Conclusion
If you like Landmarq, Minimum Vital, Pendragon, Curved Air or even Arena, then Silver Lining offers you this and more on their debut album. The album has good melodies, nice atmospheres, and is essentially going through all the 'motions' for a symphonic rock album. The variety is another strong point (also when you see the references above), and the addition of violin is certainly a good one, because it sets the band apart from others in the genre. It gives the music extra drama. On the vocal and lyrics side: the lyrics form a tale of the fantasy kind with a moral, while the vocals are not without accent. I did not find it disturbing, but some of you might.

© Jurriaan Hage