{"id":55339,"date":"2017-08-13T19:02:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-14T00:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=55339"},"modified":"2017-08-14T07:24:58","modified_gmt":"2017-08-14T12:24:58","slug":"fiction-syxx-tall-dark-secrets-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2017\/fiction-syxx-tall-dark-secrets-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiction Syxx | Tall Dark Secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller<\/span>
\n— Managing Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"When Mark Allen Lanoue interviewed with <\/a>Hardrock Haven earlier this month, the best thing he said was that the song, \u201cTall Dark Secrets\u201d didn’t make this album\u2014the title of the release\u2014but will be on the next one. With so many musicians in various projects around the world (and isn’t Billy Sheehan in like, 80 percent of them) it’s refreshing knowing Fiction Syxx isn’t a one-off, \u201con to the next\u201d type of band.<\/p>\n

There’s a bit of mysticism and numerology to the band, as you can tell by the Yin and Yang inspired cover art, along with the opening track, \u201cGiven Sight.\u201d The expert musicianship is apparent from the onset, especially with drummer Rory Faciane, known mostly for session work, giving off a bit of a Fates Warning vibe. \u201cI don’t know why I’m given sight,\u201d sings Lanoue about the song’s premise (seeing the dead). Lanoue owns a throaty, warm, extremely relaxed delivery. You never hear him stretch or even strain; it just flows. Knowing keyboardist extraordinaire Eric Ragno is in the band, well, you are going to get some otherworldy keys that match the song, and then some.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlay on Words\u201d is more of a mainstream AOR track, with buoyant backing vocals, and honestly feels like one of the songs the guys had the most fun recording. You’d have to hear it to understand it fully, but there’s a vibrant energy to the composition.<\/p>\n

\u201cTow the Line\u201d is one of the tracks that features a bevy of guest musicians, because why crank it to 10 when 11 exists, right? Guitarist Bill Leverty brings an original element to the song, as he always does on this mid-tempo brooding composition, that builds into an arena anthem. As with every Fiction Syxx song, the guitars can’t help but be prevalent.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemon in My Window\u201d goes into that supernatural space of ghosts and spirits and evil presences again. It’s on these kind of dangerous, slower songs that Tony Franklin gets to steal the air a bit more, and he’s Tony Franklin, so he’ll do so. One of the highlights on Tall Dark Secrets.<\/p>\n

JK Northrup plays all sorts of guitar on the release, from rhythms to blazing solos to acoustic and slide guitar, and then the gents bring in Steve Brown on \u201cLarger Than Life.\u201d Kind of like eating yourself sick at a buffet by now, but this is America, and if we want to weigh 500 pounds dammit we will! The riffs are chunky as hell on this one, probably leading everyone to a sonic buffet in their head without prompting.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpirits Collide\u201d is another airy, open composition, the kind Lanoue shines on the brightest as a vocalist. There’s a lot of uplifting grace to the lyrics, especially with lines like \u201cspread your angel wings and fly,\u201d and \u201cI see you dancing in the light, right beyond Heaven’s door. I’ll meet you right beyond the clouds, right there on the other shore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most bands don’t remember to save the best for last. Don’t accuse Fiction Syxx of that sin. \u201cChildren of the Night\u201d is a monster of a song. It’s a guitar fans’ wet dream. It’s their heaviest song, at least in sections, and features a couple of the best guitar solos on the release, the second solo in this song by Lanoue. Even the damn singer is a good guitarist in this band\u2014seems fair, right? This has all the majesty of a Dio chorus, but it’s how they pack so much music, solos\/leads, tempo changes and lyrics that paint pictures that make this the song you’ll go back to time and time again.<\/p>\n

After hearing the album, it should make one wonder how the title track, \u201cTall Dark Secrets\u201d didn’t even make the debut. What other cards are these guys holding? Yes, the entire album has a sense of mystery about it, and really, with the players in the band and a bevy of guests (like Jimi Bell, David Cagle, Thoersten Koehne, Christian Wentz and more) everyone should be excited to see what they come up with next \u2026 in this world or the next one.<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic, Progressive Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nMark Allen Lanoue – Lead and Backing Vocal, Rhythm- Lead and Acoustic Guitar
\nJK Northrup – Rhythm- Lead- Slide and Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocal
\nTony Franklin – Bass
\nRory Faciane – Drums and Percussion
\nEric Ragno \u2013 Keyboards<\/p>\n

Guest musicians:
\nhttp:\/\/fictionsyxxrocks.com\/artists.html <\/a><\/p>\n

Tracklisting:
\n01. Given Sight 04:48
\n02. Play On Words 04:03
\n03. Tow The Line 04:16
\n04. Welcome To My Nightmare 04:38
\n05. Demon In My Window 04:49
\n06. Larger Than Life 04:36
\n07. Where We Belong 04:11
\n08. Your Promised Land 03:49
\n09. Spirits Collide 03:42
\n10. Time To Heal 06:44
\n11. Children Of The Night 05:20<\/p>\n

Label: MelodicRock Records<\/p>\n

Web:
\nwww.fictionsyxxrocks.com<\/a>
\nwww.alien1111.com<\/a>
\nwww.melodicrockrecords.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.6\/10
\nHardrock Haven rating: [usr 8.6 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller — Managing Editor — When Mark Allen Lanoue interviewed with Hardrock Haven earlier this month, the best thing he said was that the song, \u201cTall Dark Secrets\u201d didn’t make this album\u2014the title […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":55340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15128],"tags":[8965,13623,13594,13622,13621,1643,13253,13624,10118],"class_list":{"0":"post-55339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2017","8":"tag-bill-leverty","9":"tag-eric-ragno","10":"tag-fiction-syxx","11":"tag-jk-northrup","12":"tag-mark-lanoue","13":"tag-melodicrock-records","14":"tag-steve-brown","15":"tag-tall-dark-secrets","16":"tag-tony-franklin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}