♣ Album recap: Razia's Shadow A Musical (2008)

Artist: Forgive Durden
Release: 28 October 2008
Label: Fueled By Ramen
Genre: Musical

When an indie pop-punk band decided to go experimental and created a full-fledge musical album, I would definitely check that out. And when almost 4 years later I'm still having a regular listen to the album, I think hey, I should probably refresh people's memory about this. Or you know, in case you haven't heard of it, here we go...

"Don't you ever feel like you've been destined for something bigger than your skin?"

Thomas Dutton was the sole member of Forgive Durden when this fantastic album was recorded. So yes, you can say he's the man with the vision, along with the help from his brother Paul Dutton and Rudy Gajadhar (former Gatsby's American Dream drummer) who adds steady drum throughout the musical. To bring Razia's Shadow to life, Dutton summoned the help of many talented vocalists to contribute a voice to a character in the musical. Some are from popular bands, some are from bands you may not hear much, but that is unimportant because they all did a great job, with their each unique and strong vocal giving soul to every line they sing, to every song they're in. Aaron Weiss (mewithoutYou vocalist) lends his "crispy" voice to the story as a narrator, fearlessly nails the part, and adds one more favorite aspects of the album.

Razia's Shadow tells the story of a world divided in two by the selfish actions of a powerful and egotistical, yet insecure angel, namely Ahrima, whose action was encouraged by an evil spider named Barayas. Toba the Tura then was sent to hold Ahrima responsible, banished him to live in the ashes (The Dark) while the rest of the angels traveled to a better place (The Light). A hundred years later, a younger prince of The Dark, namely Adakias, felt dissatisfied with his life and decided to leave the kingdom to go searching for The Light, where he fell in love with a princess from the kingdom of The Light, named Anhura. It was their bravery to fulfill their destiny, their true love and sacrifice that eventually could reunite the world back as one. Sounds cheesy? Well, it does. It's a musical, what do you expect. It's supposed to be cheesy and ended happily ever after.

When entering Razia's Shadow, we are met with an orchestra of horns and strings, creating the scene and tone of the musical, it's nearly guitar-less. Though the music may not for everyone's ear, once you enjoy the Disney animated classics or musical theater this is a breed of work that you will surely appreciate. "Genesis" is the perfect opening track which has succeeded in making me want more to hear. "The Missing Piece" is the most catchy tune, I can almost imagine it being played over and over in radio. Some most outstanding --if not eccentric-- singing performances were pulled by Barayas the Spider (voiced by Max Bemis from Say Anything) in "The Spider and the Lamp" and Doctor Dumaya (voiced by Shawn Harris from The Matches) in "Doctor, Doctor", accompanied with heavy orchestrated fast drum beat, one would easily believe both songs come from one of Tim Burton's movies. The closing track, "The End and the Beginning", features a nicely-conducted vocal battle ala classic musical theater material between Adakias (voiced by Thomas Dutton himself) and his older brother, Pallis (voiced by Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco), then the beautiful soothing voice of Princess Anhura (voiced by Greta Salpeter from The Hush Sound) perfects the track like a cherry on top.

In first listens, the album is deliciously interesting. Speaking of lasting power, it surely has the quality to maintain a tight grip on my playlist rotation for years ;) You can see the complete track list and character list here.

myoneandlonely's rating 
Music: 4/5
Vocal: 5/5
Lyric: 3.5/5
Concept: 5/5

Overall: 4.5/5