After a year and a half of intense hard work, Ronnie Martin has emerged once again with yet another Joy Electric classic "The Otherly Opus", the fifth and final installement of his long-running "Legacy" concept album series. In this case, "The Otherly Opus" is a double-concept album with the first five tracks carrying one theme and the latter five tracks displaying another.
Like previous Joy Electric releases, "The Otherly Opus" showcases Ronnie's relentless talents for fusing catchy melodies with a wealth of experimentation. Unlike previous albums, Ronnie has put a larger emphasis on vocal arrangements here than on any other Joy Electric album. In addition to his trademark lead vocals, Ronnie also provides some very unique layered backing vocals on many of the tracks including "Colours In Dutch", "The Memory of Alpha", "The Ushering In of The Magical Era" and "Red Will Dye These Snows Of Silver".
Musically, the album is quite experimental but not in the most avant-garde extreme. The songs are still very tuneful and have a semi-industrial feel to them (especially in the latter half of the album). There's even one track, "Write Your Last Paragraph", that echoes the sound of Joy Electric's earlier material (ie: Melody, We Are The Music Makers, Old Wives Tales).
Overall, "The Otherly Opus" is another fine collection from Joy Electric and is continued proof that Ronnie keeps getting better with each album he releases. With the "Legacy" series now officially finished, I cannot help but be curious as to which musical direction Ronnie Martin is going to take next. One thing is definitely for sure, it will be aw
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