The Demo Review:

	There are currently 1 Reviews of this Demo. Average Rating: 3
Band Name: Forgotten Tales Demo Title: The Promise Band Members: Martin Desharnnis (Guitars), Frederick Desroches (Keyboards), Pat Vir (Bass), Cedric Prevost (Drums), Sonia Pineault (Vocals) Location:Quebec, Canada Email for This Artist Official Web Site for This Artist Discuss on the Metal Judgment Web Board

Musashi's Review:
I have been warned that I might singlehandedly cause the Canadians to boycott our site, yet I still receive demos and indepedent releases from Canadian bands. I suspect my anti-Candadian rantings have been largely ignored. Like all things from Canada, you cannot take Forgotten Tales at face value. You must look carefully and extract the foreign currency before you get it jammed in the washing machine. At a quick glance they look like regular dimes and quarters but, trust me, they are worthless. Forgotten Tales is like a foreign coin that works in their country but not in ours. Please let me explain.
The pretty artwork on the CD is immediately impressive. Bright, vivid colors and crisp fonts signal a professional production. The cover has a female knight with the long red locks walking her armoured lizard-dog-pet-pack-mule-thingy on the edge of a lake reflecting clouds, then you turn it over and there is a dragon and a castle. You know immediately you are in for some fairy tale shit, a la "Mists Of Avalon."
I put the CD in the player and was immediately greeted with some Carmina Burana sounding stuff. I am not surprised. Well, I am a little. I wonder if this is all done on keyboards. It is actually well done and the orchestral sounds are pretty nice. Then comes the metal. It is typical power metal: fast, lots of double bass drums, lots of guitar solos, keyboards and neoclassical themes. The music is actually really good. There are soft acoustic parts that transition into heavy headbanging anthems. What sets Forgotten Tales apart? It is of course the vocalist, Sonia Pineault. She has that diva quality reminiscent of Ann Wilson before she ate her sister Nancy. Her vibrato is nice and her voice is very pleasant. A little too pleasant perhaps. It sounds like I am listening to Les Miserables. She has that nice show tune sort of voice that is a little too nice for metal. Her intonation needs some work, but it is passable. I don't know if I buy this whole metalchick act she's putting on.
Overall, I like many aspects of the music. I have to mention how much I like the keyboard sounds, they're great; the flute and harpsichord sounds are exceptional. The rest of the band is also excellent. There are some Yngwie-ish moments that are really cool. The band is somewhere between Rising Force, Dream Theater, Heart and Helloween. If I stopped here, I could give this CD a five skull review for being so kick ass, but what kind of patriot would I be if I did not take this opportunity to find fault with this Canadian quintet, eh?
The website is currently under construction so there was no information to be gathered from there. I decided to have a closer look inside the CD booklet. Oh, there is a short story about the band. It is very touching. Apparently, this guy was a huge power metal fan but was sad that none of his favorite European bands would come to Canada to play. He decided to pay tribute to these bands by finding a band that could do covers and originals and play throughout Canada. Forgotten Tales is that band. Originally, there were just going to do a few shows, "it wasn't a real band, just part of a project," but there was so much excitement that they had to put out an album. That man who brought European flavored metal to Canada is Rene Pineault, Forgotten Tales' manager. Gosh, isn't that a great story? Wait a minute. Isn't the singer's name Pineault?
What are the odds that Sonia is Rene's wife? Pretty good, I would say. That would explain why they keep her in the band despite her intonation problems and despite the fact that she is so obviously not metal. Hey, when was the last time you read a letter from the band's manager in the CD booklet? Me neither! What is up with that? How does he get a whole page to himself unless he's married to the singer. This whole thing is starting to stink.
Okay. Rene has fulfilled his dream of having a European metal band in Canada. He has also fulfilled his dream of marrying a singer from a metal band. Lucky guy. If you want to hear a decent band from Canada, check out Forgotten Tales. I warn you, there is something really artificial about the whole thing. In other words, I would not go getting their name tattooed anywhere on your body. I would not try and save by buying the special "lifetime membership" to their fan club: pay month-to-month. This a fun album, but it ain't real. It's all show.

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