Album Review: The Murder Of My Sweet - A Gentleman's Legacy

I've heard a lot of bad ideas, but the one we're dealing with today might be one of the strangest of them all. This new album from The Murder Of My Sweet is a concept album. No big deal, right? It's also a sequel to another concept album. Still, that's happened before. However, this concept album is a sequel to another concept album.... by another band. That band is the other one driven by the same songwriter, but still, the idea of making an album that only makes sense if you listened to another album by another band is beyond my comprehension. In a day and age where getting people to pay attention to the music you write is harder than ever, why would you put up that kind of barrier?

My first thought when I heard the gimmick of this record was to ignore it. While I have had some enjoyable experiences with The Murder Of My Sweet before, I did not appreciate the homework assignment they were asking of me. I flat-out don't believe I should have to do research to get the full effect of a song or an album. But, since we're in December anyway, I figure I might as well see if the record is any good when divorced from the absurdity.

Like so many records of the kind, it gets off to a terrible start with a four-minute song that spends 75% of it's running time on spoken word and ambient sounds. It isn't really a 'song', and with another sixty-four minutes to come afterward, it feels like the band is intentionally trolling me. They certainly couldn't do much more to make the album less engaging to get into.

When "A Ghost Of A Chance" kicks in, everything changes. Forget about the story, and the song is a wonderfully sweet and melodic metal track that perfectly fits Angelica Rylin's voice. The strings that come in from time to time are nice accents, as is the very prog keyboard solo, but everything is centered on the melody. This is what The Murder Of My Sweet has always done best, and they do it again here.

The songs that follow, "Damnation", "Wheels Of Time", and "Kill Your Darlings" are cut from the same mold, delivering an almost cheery form of melodic metal where the hooks are warm and inviting. It's much in the mold of AOR, if that genre didn't sand off any and all edge from the sound. Song after song, the band delivers exactly what we want from them. The album is engaging, with a hint of drama, and more than a dose of beauty.

Yes, that means once again I am coming down with a split judgment. On the one hand, "A Gentleman's Legacy" is a very fine album of melodic metal that holds strong appeal for anyone looking for a hooky and memorable record. On the other hand, I don't think it succeeds as a concept album, for the reason I explained at the start. As a stand-alone work, I definitely enjoyed listening to this album. But it isn't a stand-alone album at all, which continues to be puzzling.

And also, if the album is about the gentleman's daughter, why is the title framed entirely around him? An album about her should, you know, make it clear it's about her.