Aaah, I don’t know where to start... The cover shows a car that’s being attacked by a giant polar bear and a lizard dragon (looks a little too real to be tagged as dragon only), or the list of members? At Metal Archives even the manager is listed, of course as a co-songwriter as well. So, sure, it really feels pretentious but it is a massive project also. Apart from the listed in lineup names as Graham Bonnet, Michael Kiske and Michael Harris appear in the promotional information. So looking from that perspective, it rather feels like a lot of hard work and dedication to get this album “34613” flying.

To describe TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK’s music using a few words I’d say Prog/Power Metal and just by looking at the singers there are the ‘big’ names of Graham and Michael and Ski and Scott who I think highly of since I place WIND WRAITH and DEADLY BLESSING high in the ranking of great American Metal bands. And then again, I can’t for the sake of God understand why they decided to start (after the intro “As Darkness Falls”) with a very cheesy Power Metal song “Gate To Freedom”, that first of all doesn’t represent the album whatsoever, because the rest of it is absolutely fantastic with its melodic but still heavy, dynamic and very dramatic songs. Right after this one, TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK prove they can write catchy songs without making them too happy. “Glass Mountain” is very poppy but still a track you want to listen to in the car driving very fast at night. “A Song For You” is a ballad, at least during the first half and it has a fantastic melody line, almost in SCORPIONS class.

Another thing that stands out through the entire album is the great guitar emotional melodies suiting the songs like hand in glove. Michael Harris solo works have been of the same character, so this was no real surprise when reading his name in connection with this album. I probably shouldn’t give him all the credit for the guitars since I don’t exactly know how much he plays here.

One downside with “34613” is that it has a little dip in the middle, not when it comes to quality of songs but in pace. Starting with “A Song For You” that never goes further than mid-tempo, “Doubt” is super heavy but also mid-tempo, “The Ethereal Dream” as well as “White Lightning” ballads, the title track “34613” an instrumental piece and for me the absolute weakest track of the album. The album gains speed again though and the rest is as strong as in the beginning but it took me several times listening through “34613” to keep my interest up all the way through here since this is a rather long album. But it is absolutely worth the effort because the ultimate highlight appears in “March Of The Demons”, a very dynamic and dramatic track with tons of changes both in pace and atmosphere. Then I thought perhaps the LIZZY BORDEN cover “Red Rum” was a bit unnecessary; even if it is a good song, the album would last long enough without it.

I guess the effort spent digging into “34613” from TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK was well worth it. For sure, I would never have bought it from the cover or even giving it a spin in the shop. So yes, it took a while to get into it, mainly since it is a whole lot to take in. But this is a massive piece of great Prog/Power Metal and sure an interesting project.


Source: http://www.metalkaoz.com/album-reviews/7003-tomorrows-outlook-34613.html