Band:	ShamRain
Album:	Someplace Else
Style:	Gothic metal
Release date:	June 2005
A review by:	Jeff

01. Into Nothingness
02. Still Aeon
03. To Leave
04. Aura
05. Slow Motions
06. The Missing Pieces
07. A Woeful Song
08. Laren U Freht Ona
09. The Empty Flow

"Someplace Else" is the 2nd album of the Finnish combo Sham Rain. Sham Rain is actually the side project of Mika Tauriainen (with the help of some musicians of Grayscale) singer of Entwine. If I must confess that I'm not the first fan of Entwine, I must admit that the voice of Mika on this album is incredible. At the end, "Someplace Else" is this kind of sad and depressive album that only give shivers to the listeners. It's a real slap in the face?

"Someplace Else" this is like a candy, something sweet and beautiful. Actually, the sad melodies of the album remember me Radiohead or the last Anathema with however this specific sound that we only find in all the Finnish productions. The sad and depressive ambiances are really impressive, the music of "Someplace Else" is touching and even if I regret that some songs are better than some others, I must say it, we're in front of a great album.

"Someplace Else" is not so complex on a side. I mean that we have compositions that use the basic construction with tirades/choruses sometime acoustic (with a lot of Piano) or electric. But every time it's catchy, and don't tell me that you can resist to the beautiful melody of "Still Aeon" or that you can forget the choruses of the magnificent "To Leave". To sum up, the songs of this album are just super efficient, this is just some potential hits and really I can only congratulate the musicians of the band. Plus, Mika Tauriainen is amazing, it's hard to find easily such melodic and touching vocals. Like a Thom Yorke we have a singer with a voice, a real one not a pure clone or plagiary of someone else.

The 2nd album of Sham Rain is maybe not really complex, but this is a pure jewel of melancholy and I recommend it to all the ones who want to discover a band that knows how to produce an impressive and touching music. The atmospheric and depressive ambiances of this album are great and in my opinion Sham Rain will probably know the success with this "Someplace Else". If you like such music this is a must I don't have to add anything more.