Sensory Records will release the self-titled debut from THOMAS MILLER'S LAZARUS EFFECT on October 30 on CD, LP and digital. Lead single "When Darkness Falls" is streaming now.
The record closes a loop that has been open for a quarter of a century. Thomas Miller began playing in central New Jersey in cover and original bands steeped in the progressive rock of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1986 he met Michael Romeo, a local guitarist with a classical bent, and the two recorded and gigged together across several bands before forming SYMPHONY X in 1994 and signing to Japanese label Zero Records.
What followed was the run that made the band's name: the self-titled debut, "The Damnation Game", "The Divine Wings Of Tragedy" and "Twilight In Olympus", plus the "Prelude To The Millennium" compilation, and tours through Japan, Europe and New York. Then personal issues took Miller out of the band.
He never stopped writing. A 2017 recording project with vocalist Hollywood How Portney proved the chemistry was there, and years of fan interest did the rest — that partnership became LAZARUS EFFECT. Two former SYMPHONY X bandmates lend their talents: guitarist Michael Romeo and keyboardist Michael Pinnella. Eric Rachel, who produced SYMPHONY X's first six albums as well as records for BLACK SABBATH and THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, mixed and mastered, with art and design by Rodrigo Gudiña.
The result runs forty-nine minutes and aims squarely at the grand end of progressive metal — territory shared with SYMPHONY X, DREAM THEATER, CIRCUS MAXIMUS, REDEMPTION and KAMELOT.
"When Darkness Falls", the album's sixth track, is the point of entry, and it came together fast. "I wrote 'When Darkness Falls' as more of a straight ahead, in-your-face metal song for the album with a classical shadow due to its harmonic minor content," Miller says. "The song came together within about an hour, and the lyrics and harmonies worked perfectly for How's vocals."
The album ends on ambition: "Sailing To Utopia" is a five-part suite that accounts for the closing stretch on its own.
"Thomas Miller's Lazarus Effect" track listing:
- Dark Horse
- Fear No Evil
- All The King's Horses
- Closer To The Sun
- Aria Etude (bonus track)
- When Darkness Falls
- Culmination
- Sailing To Utopia
- Pt 1: In The Palace Of Knossos
- Pt 2: Thunder's Majesty
- Pt 3: Judging The Darkness
- Pt 4: 'Neath The Heel Of Mayhem
- Pt 5: Return
Stream and order:
- Stream "When Darkness Falls" and preorder the album on Bandcamp: lasersedge.bandcamp.com
- Watch on YouTube: youtube.com