Forgive Durden - Razia's Shadow [CD]

Fueled by Ramen

October 23, 2008, 08:18 PM

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I wasn’t sure what to expect with this album, I have to admit. I certainly didn’t think that it would be a combination of prog rock and Broadway theatre. The first track of Razia’s Shadow (subtitled “A Musical”, which explains a lot) is, aptly enough, named “Genesis”, and it starts with a tense note underpinned by a deep rumble, which smashes into an epic fantasy-adventure kind of sound. A narrative voice (Aaron Weiss of mewithoutYou) begins the story, before giving way to percussive clicks and plucked strings, delicately weaving a background for the theatrical vocals.

Forgive Durden now consists of Thomas Dutton, all alone apart from his brother, who co-wrote the album, Casey Bates, who produced the album, Rudy Gajadhar (from Gatsby’s American Dream) on drums, and about a dozen extra singers, such as Panic At The Disco’s Brendan Urie and Chris Conley of Saves The Day.

Mr. Dutton should be very thankful for the amount of talent that he has amassed to play on this album. The production is, frankly, awesome; the drums sound massive, pounding away among intricate cymbal-work and percussion. String sections add some very classy touches, swaying effortlessly above the characters’ mostly excellent vocal efforts. The string parts are, according to Mr. Dutton, mostly synthesised, but the quality is such that it is difficult to tell.

The majority of the songs are superb, flowing from choruses to narrative links and back with ease. The brilliant “The Spider and the Lamps” is wonderfully dark, and “Meet the King” delightfully farcical, at least at the start; the exciting “Life Is Looking Up” has the aroma of Sufjan Stevens and “Toba The Tura” the taste of David Bowie, although that’s probably just because of Chris Conley’s wobbly vocal line. In fact, there isn’t a song that can truly be described as “bad” – the closest you can get is “It wasn’t quite as good as that other one” - for example, “The Oracle”, which puts a haunting, but slightly dull, backing track to well-sung, high-pitched vocals, and the acapella “A Thousand Year, Minute Long Intermission”.

Even if, like me, you’re not a fan of musicals, there is so much ingenuity here, so much depth and intelligence, that it will keep you listening over and over again. Well done to Mr. Dutton for creating such a refreshing and fascinating album.

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