Reviews

Italian review
www.babylonmagazine.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2701&Itemid=0

German review
www.bloodchamber.de/cd/a/5127

French review
www.progressive-area.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=81&Itemid=2

A collection of 14 video logs from the recording sessions
www.youtube.com/profile?user=smga3000

...When you look at the various members names, you will notice that almost everyone of them has been in an influential early 90’s ProgRock band so it won’t come as a surprise that a large section of the music has that typical East Coast 90’s progsound. Mix this with some later 70’s passages and you have a pretty clear overview of what to expect. Since the story is filled with all types of happenings, grave emotions and life changing experiences, the music is also very serious and intense. Just listen to the epic “Shattered Dreams” or “Revelation” and you can’t deny that this doesn’t grab you. There is however also a bit of room for lighter music like the very poppy “I promise you” or “Friends Forever”. By changing a few times between the various styles, the albums stays fresh and interesting to listen to. Not that this is a problem because when you look at the enormous pool of talent that is present, but still some variation is offered, so that’s always good. Additionally, the story is told by various voice-overs in between the music to give the characters some more personality or by just introducing them into the story. As a last, I enjoyed hearing D.C. Cooper again. After he left Royal Hunt, I lost track of him but it was god to hear him again. The man still has that versatile voice that can go all directions and that’s just what this album needs...
www.vampire-magazine.com/article.php?aid=43896

Audio interview with DC Cooper
www.hardrockhaven.net/interviews2007/dccooper07.php

German review
www.rocktimes.de/gesamt/a/amarans_plight/voice_in_the_light.html

...Recorded last year at six different studios with the help of additional musicians such as Michael Sadler and Trishia O’Keefe, “Voice In The Light” is one of the best conceptual progressive rock albums I’ve had the pleasure to listen to in quite some time. The storyline is captivating, the 13 (!) songs are memorable and the execution and production (courtesy of Wehrkamp) are fingerlickin’ good. Although you have to listen to this masterpiece as a whole, it’s the longer tracks that really show how strong this band is. “Incident At Haldeman’s Lake” (11:28), “Shattered Drams” (13:24) and “Revelation” (13:10) are all stunning to say the least. This album arrived while I was away on vacation to the sun-drenched Tuscany and since my homecoming it hasn’t hardly left my CD player. That alone gives away how good it actually is. Absolutely recommended!!!
www.rockreport.be/review.asp?id=1772

Dutch review
www.progwereld.org/cd-recensies/amaransplight.htm

Starting this review in a very unorthodox way, I really don't know who I should thank first for this magnificent progressive rock, concept album and one of the best albums I've heard so far in 2007. Should it be Shawn Gordon and the exceptional work he's doing with ProgRock records, grimly refusing to give up the fight he's started for progressive music's universal establishment by constantly digging up talented bands out of the blue? Or should it be John W. Crawford, for setting the lyrical basis, since "Voices in the Light" is based on a novel by him, talking about a man's life and his near death experience that changed his life and way of dealing with things? Far more, John worked as a lyricist and executive producer and he's done a great job, without doubt...
www.metalperspective.com/reviews/amarans_plight.php

Audio interviews with DC Cooper and also Gary Wehrkamp
www.usaprogmusic.com/mp3/audiointerviews.html

Interview (both German and English)
www.heavyhardes.de/interview-290.html

...Stylistically the music on Amaran’s Plight is what you could easily call heavy-symphonic. The guitar is clearly up front with keyboards performing the background and support role of adding texture. Much of the music is loaded with aggressive crescendos, soaring vocal passages, delicate synthesizer transitions and cascading guitar runs. Overall the music is quite charged with intensity. That said, where the story demands some telling the band aren’t afraid to bring in a solo piano or acoustic guitar to build the mood and provide some sonic relief. With just under 80-minutes of music here, there’s lot’s of room to work in a myriad of feels. And throughout there are many good hooks and some rather melodic pieces. A song like “I Promise You” sounds radio ready with its amazingly catchy melody. These compositions are sprinkled in amongst some longer works, three of them being over 10-minutes. These are the pieces where the mood and drama of the story are most obvious. Together with some shorter transition pieces everything here creates a kind of soundtrack aspect to the concept behind Voice of Light. And even here there are some great melodies and themes at work. Huge anthemic qualities are used to convey a sense of emotion as in “Consummation Opus.”..
www.jerrylucky.com/jerrylucky_029.htm

German review
www.powermetal.de/cdreview/review-10288.html

...“Voice In The Light” is a melodic progressive rockers dream. It has everything with its mysterious storyline, virtuoso musicianship and marvellous songs. It also sounds sonically fantastic. Without a doubt this is an album that will keep rewarding with every listen and for this reviewer it joins my shortlist for one of the top ten albums of the year. I urge anyone who loves melodic rock from bands like Queen, Styx, Rainbow and Journey but also likes the progressive rock of bands like Kansas, Rush, Queensryche and Spock’s beard to seek out this record.
www.hardrockhouse.com/NewReleases/AmaransPlight.htm

German review
www.squealer-rocks.de/cdreview.php?var=1136

...I'd say this is entirely a concept album whose integrity is obvious on all levels, not only in its lyrics. The thirteen tracks here, while ranging in duration, progressiveness and style all alike, all work as parts of the same creation with a genuinely epic magnitude. Besides, the pieces are so well intermixed that none seems to be superfluous, although admittedly one of them is a mediocrity. It would be wrong to assert that Amaran's Plight are strongly influenced by Shadow Gallery, but since Gary Wehrkamp not only serves as the group's principal songwriter, but is also the main driving force in the recording's soloing department, playing all guitars and keyboards, the comparisons with his primary band are often inevitable (which in this particular case just gladdens me, as I like Shadow Gallery better than any of the other outfits represented)...
www.progressor.net/review/amarans_plight_2007.html

Interview with Gary and Kurt
usaprogmusic.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=96&Itemid=45

German review
www.evilized.de/cms/content/view/2942/41

Spanish review
manticornio.com/rock-progresivo/A/AMARAN_S-PLIGHT/voice-in-the-light.html

German review
www.heavyhardes.de/review-3259.html

...What more can you say about the vocals of D.C. Cooper? This guy is a consumate pro, and fans of his years with Royal Hunt and his current band Silent Force know that the singer is not just a progressive metal/hard rock vocalist, but he also can deliver plenty of emotion and passion when needed. His duet with guest singer Trishia O'Keefe on "I Promise You" is gorgeous stuff, and his stirring performance on "Coming of Age" and the epic "Incident at Haldemans Lake" is nothing short of inspiring. While there's plenty of exciting musical outbursts on Voice In The Light, like on the atmospheric instrumental "Consummation Opus", and the CD's other two magnum opuses "Shattered Dreams" (featuring a hot middle section with all players really digging in hard) and "Revelation", both really show the proggy side to the band, but it's not all about chops here. There are some heavy moments as well, like the venemous metal on "Viper", with Cooper really letting it all hang out amidst crunchy riffs from Wehrkamp, and the complex "Turning Point", which sees Barabas and D'Virgilio really working overtime. The verdict: This is a highly enjoyable concept album from a prog rock supergroup that really lives up to all the hype and expectations. Now let's see if this can blossom into something more than a one-off affair, as I'm sure we'd all love to see Amaran's Plight take this show on the road or perform Voice In The Light at one of the major progressive rock festivals. Now that would be something to look forward to.
www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=5401

...The music varies from the hugely melodic Friends Forever through to the tension filled instrumental breaks in Incident at Haldemans Lake to the emotional Reflections Part I. All musicians are more than able and they all shine throughout the album, in particular D C Cooper and Gary Wehrkamp. That said, others will have their own personal favourites. Expect to hear a lot of guitar which is all good, no surprises there! The singing is perfect and there are plenty of instrumental sections...
www.proggnosis.com/MUSIC_DBCDInfo.asp?txtCDID=21715

... The album totally rocks instrumentally, and when I looked to see who wrote the music, it was none other than Gary Wehrkamp, so it was not a big surprise that the music was well-written. The intro guitar shredding in the first song, “316” is like …’heck yeah, bring it on!!’ What a way to start the album! But when you get a “supergroup” of musicians together, I hope in the future it is not as much of an emotionally draining story as this one. Yet I did feel the passion behind these songs, sort of like when I listen to Shadow Gallery. It makes you want to get up on top of a mountain and sing on the top of your lungs along with the songs. D.C. Cooper sings with all his heart and the rest of the musicians give it their all with one punch after another. This album is so comparable with Shadow Gallery’s strong instrumentation, harmonization, and climatic moments. It truly has some great instrumental pieces to it that will wow you to tears...
usaprogmusic.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_simple_review&Itemid=28&review=40-Amaran-s-Plight-Voice-in-the-Light

...The record itself has a massive cinematic feel to it; so yes, it is a hardcore concept record, and there is no doubt about that. The sound is cast along the lines of Arena, Rocket Scientists, & Morse-era Spock’s Beard, being in line of current Floydian ‘third wave’ progressive rock, with a balance of symphonic and heavy overtones. The record itself, like many concept records opens up with the Rising Force-ish “Room 316” overture, which immediately leads into the more eased back, nearly A/C “Friends Forever;” but nevertheless, the tone for the record has been set – you can tell we are being led into something here. Within the ‘rock opera’ you have the driving tracks such as “Coming of Age” & “Viper” the eerie extended piece titled “Incident at Haldeman’s Lake,” sub-symphonic numbers like “Betrayed by Love” & “Turning Point,” and even balladry with “I Promise You” & “Revelation,” so the storyline flows accordingly with the music, and vice-versa...
www.ytsejam.com/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=1250

Italian review
www.truemetal.it/reviews.php?op=albumreview&id=5827

...Musically we hear Shadow Gallery combined with a small touch of Pink Floyd and thanks to DC's voice also his fellow bands and while I can't say I hear anything revolutionary new, I still think this is some of the better symphonic progressive music I've heard in a quite a while. Take a listen to "Betrayed by Love", which is a majestic progressive giant, or the epic closer "Revelation" and you will know how great this is. Some other great moments are the Pink Floydish "Consummation Opus", which has a cool atmosphere built around it...
www.victoryzine.com/review.php?id=704