Soto
Origami

Jeff Scott Soto and his band Soto return with a third offering, this one is called Origami. It may be a somewhat strange name for an album that is in the melodic hard rock or heavy metal genre. Nice artwork. And with Jeff Scott Soto doing the vocals, it is bound to have good vocals at least; the heavier stuff he has done has worked as well, not that I know Soto from before but the albums with W.E.T. etc. are quite heavy and quite great – although the album by Sons of Apollo that we reviewed was quite terrible so it is not always great when Jeff Scott Soto does the vocals. So what about this album, is it any good?

Melodic hardrock or hevy metal is probably the best description of what you will hear when taking on this album. You could imagine that it is a progressive album as the label InsideOut usually release those and not many of the more standardised rock/metal styles. It isn’t the most fresh or creatively impressive album I have heard; Soto seems to be a band of musical craftsmen rather than artists. The vocals are brilliant and the production is great as well, a solid piece of craftsmanship. And the album has a sensible playing time as well, the CD has a bonus track but if you take the ten tracks that are on all versions, the playing time is about 45 minutes. And the variation is pretty decent as well so the chance of being bored with the album is rather slim.

Good stuff! That is what we could say about Origami, the songs are really strong and the melodies excellent. The opening track Hypermania is a really strong opener and the best track of the album, and while the following tracks aren’t as great they are still very strong tracks and the album therefore feels very enjoyable. The weakness is the lack of fresh ideas, and the lack of thinking outside box. You might also see this album as something of a lesser version of what W.E.T. has done before, but as W.E.T.’s music is rather excellent a lesser version would still be rather great and that is something you can say about this album.

Origami offers a really strong album that is certainly well worth checking out. If you like the melodic hard rock or metal you really should have a look as I think you will enjoy it. 

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