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Richard Zeier: Phenomenation

By Keith Hannaleck

Artist: Richard Zeier
Title: Phenomenation
Genre: Symphonic Rock
Label: RJZ Music
Website: www.richardzeier.com
Purchase this CD: CD Baby

Richard Zeier's Phenomenation is a cleanly produced, mostly instrumental album that incorporates sounds from rock, classical, new age, and electronica. The album is well composed and Zeier's guitar work is superb. Each of the thirteen tracks explores emotional locations that combine to create an overall sound that at once transcends time and location yet feels very familiar and accessible.

The album opens with "Rainbow Nebula," which features an ethereal beginning followed by layers of acoustic and electric guitar under laid by a rhythmic bass line and interspersed with piano. The sound is upbeat yet underscored with darker rhythms and melodies that suggest you are entering a textured and complex musical world. That multi-layered sound appears throughout the album and gives Zeier's work a cinematic feel: each of these tracks suggests plots and complexities that extend beyond the song itself, and is telling only part of a larger story.

For those of you looking for Zeier's straight-up, rock the stadium electric guitar, Zeier indulges the need with the bluesy song "The Journey," the funky "Z-Factor," and the first half of "Cloud Painter." However, the album overall does not limit itself to one genre, instead favoring towards tight compositions and covering a variety of styles and moods. "Rite of Passage" and "New World" have an orchestral sound and forgo the guitar in favor of violins, drums, and a choral singers to create a sound that is both optimistic and sinister in a way that classical musical is able to that rock and roll just can't do in the same way.

Phenomenation is an excellent musical journey through time and space and a deep showcase of Zeier's musical ability. This is the best of cinematic rock: whether it's on your MP3 player or in your favorite films I have no doubt you'll be hearing a lot of Phenomenation and Richard Zeier.

Reviewed - March 18, 2007

Tracks:

01. Rainbow Nebula (3:02)
02. Phenomenation (3:52)
03. The Journey (2:57)
04. Q-Blaze (4:13)
05. First Light (4:17)
06. Sweet (3:18)
07. Shanghai (4:02)
08. Z-Factor (4:40)
09. Who You Are (4:25)
10. Cloud Painter (3:53)
11. Rite of Passage (3:02)
12. New World (7:17)
13. Shiloh (2:59)

About the Author:

Keith Hannaleck, known as “MuzikMan” is a Journalist specializing in independent and major music reviews and the promotion of artists via the various media outlets flourishing online. He has worked closely with artists, management, publicity directors, and webmasters to provide some of the best and far-reaching coverage an artist could have. Focusing primarily on the internet as a medium for his work, Keith has been a pioneer in the industry changing the way a reviewer with his various talents are used by many artists, PR folks, and labels. He has provided strong and valuable work to labels, artists, and publicity people, writing reviews, press releases, and biographies and much more over the years, giving the people he works with the maximum amount of exposure through several top-notch websites that post his content on their sites.

Hannaleck built and maintained his own website in 1998 while networking and building his reputation through thousands of reviews and interviews, creating a special niche for himself. Through many years of dedication and hard work, he has reached a respected level of competence and knowledge that is frequently sought by the music industry today. Known for his speaking from the heart interpretations of music and being able to put it in layman’s terms for music fans, his work is found everywhere in cyberspace and in traditional print media, from press kits to quotes from reviews in magazine advertisements.