Open All Our Eyes

So there's this album and it has recently massacred its way up to my favorite album of all time in a very short period, by which I mean I listened to the first song for thirty seconds and fell in love. Hard. The album's title is Razia's Shadow: A Musical, and the group that did it is called Forgive Durden. I had never heard of them before, but wow.

This album is a very interesting concept. It is a musical, but it doesn't officially have a staged production. There is only the music and some character art. However, the band strongly urges people to make their own live productions of it. This abstractness makes it so that Razia's Shadow is a blank canvas for the theatre to let their creativity flow freely.

So, like I said, Razia's Shadow is indeed a musical. It uses a variety of instruments throughout - traditional rock band instruments, strings, synthesizer, low brass, and a few instruments that I couldn't even recognize. It has a very refreshing sound, in my opinion.

Like most musicals, it has certain lines and musical phrases that it repeats and reprises throughout the show. While some people might not like this repetitive nature, it helps to make the songs catchy and gets the main points of the songs through to the audience.

Another thing that is nice about this album is the fact that it has a sense of optimism about it and ends with a good message. In today's world, we have so many bad things happening all around us, and so many reasons to feel down and to give up. However, the message this album sends, when heeded, offers some hope in the bleak realities of today.

The last point I'd like to make is the uniqueness of this musical. As I said, not only was it not made for stage, but its characters and world are amazingly fantastical. For example, instead of a god or series of gods and goddesses who create the world, the world of Razia's Shadow is created by a scientist, O the Scientist. And as a gift to the world, one of his angels, Ahrima, create the ambiguous "Lamps." What could possibly be so special about them that everyone adores them? That is all left up to the reader, and that's the beauty of it.

So, after reading all that stuff, you should definitely go and buy this album, or at least check it out. I guarantee that it will not be a waste of your resources.

(The lyrical title today is courtesy of Razia's Shadow. Yay!)