Prerequisites for being an Italian progressive metal band:

1) Must display an appreciation for the all mighty lord of the genre, Dream Theater (check, members of Soul Secret started as a tribute to the act before composing the original material which surfaces on their debut album "Flowing Portraits").

2) Prove that you can write outside the DT scope (check, as tracks like "First Creature" and "Inner War" fuse elements of thrash and electronica/ dance into their talent pool of composition).

3) Handle unfortunate lineup shuffles with professionalism (check, due to health problems guest vocalist Mark Basile admirably shines much like a smoother Michele Luppi).

4) Write and perform an epic track as if you were born out of the womb with this talent (check, closing 17 minute "Tears Of Kalliroe" runs the gamut with its orchestral opening through to Symphony X-like heavy brilliance).

Soul Secret at this point in their career may not win favor with the originality police, but I’ll give this young band credit for exciting the listener with 6 lengthy tracks (clocking in at close to an hour) that certainly will not pass by without a few awe-inspiring licks and tricks from the five members. The core of guitarist Antonio Vittozzi, bassist Lucio Grilli and drummer Antonio Mocerino have been involved with the group since August of 2004, and their tightness in terms of arrangement skill and drop dime tempo changes spirals incessantly from riff to riff. The shortest track "Regrets" also works with ballad magic because of the minimalist acoustic nature and a shining emotional melody from Mark - giving me hope that Soul Secret will try to emphasize this diversity with future records.

Keys for the future - artwork with symbols of your own philosophy (clocks and hourglasses are fairly cliché in the progressive world, aren’t they?) and the ability to step out of the mentor shadow and into your own leadership light. I do realize it’s a hefty challenge to create a special style that hasn’t been heard in metal these days, but with theory and ability the inspiration remains the key ingredient to separate a worthy entity from a mere imitator. We’ll be watching Soul Secret…

www.myspace.com/soulsecretband
www.progrockrecords.com

Composed by Matt Coe