Beyond Twilight's Section X definitely achieved its place amongst my favourite records released last year. So naturally I was anticipating the new BT record. Much to my disappointment I noticed already beforehand receiving this record that the new Beyond Twilight album once again features a new singer... I already had my fingers crossed for hearing another great record sung by Kelly Sundown Carpenter, but apparently in vain (gotta wait for the Outworld debut). Nonetheless, Finn Zierler's new choice isn't bad at all - Björn Jansson delivered rather solid performance on Imaginery's debut album and his singing on this record is OK, though he isn't on the same level with Lande and Carpenter. Jansson just tends to overdo few things, and that's never too engaging (for example, the laughter on 31st track).

The material on for the Love of Art and the Making is musically rather similar to Beyond Twilight's earlier works... so it's still atmospheric cinematic progressive metal. Regardless, the new twist is that there's only one epic song on this record spread across forty-three sections. In that sense this is a lot more soundtrackish record than the previous BT albums, and I'll even say that this is almost an instrumental record - when there are vocals, they are more often than not used as additional instrumentation.

Since this record has such a fractured structure the material doesn't flow always that well... to me it seems that Zierler has succumbed to his own gimmickry and lust for mindless creativity. Sure some parts are great, but as a whole this work just isn't that awesome. I reckon the impression would be different if one would hear these parts spread across some movie... in that case this material might work rather well, but as a listenable record For the Love of Art and the Making does only a mediocre job. Well, this all just proves the fact that it also happens to best of them... one can't always succeed. To keep it brief, I'd say the material on this album just isn't up to Beyond Twilight standards.

In addition to regular listening, I tried the shuffle playing, as the promo sheet suggested new dimensions would open that way... well, the result wasn't that good - the different pieces didn't really fit that well together (except for few fortuitous sequences). Thus I believe some alternate track order possibilities may sound good, but overall this effort should have been honed further. On top of all, this record is rather short (doesn't even cross the forty-minute mark).

The production on this album is rather apt, though slight clipping occurred few times. Nevertheless, the sounds don't manage to make this record more impressive. All in all, Beyond Twilight's For the Love of Art and the Making is fairly troublesome record that stumbles on its ambitiousness... back to listening Section X, at least in my case.

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- MAGE (July 19th, 2006)

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LINE-UP:
Zierler, Finn: Keyboards Jansson, Björn: Vocals Devillian: Bass Exo: Guitars Hansen, Jacob: Guitars Fredén, Tomas: Drums
Producer:	Unavailable
Mixing by:	Zierler, Finn & Hansen, Tommy
Mastering by:	Unavailable

	TRACKLIST:
	- For the Love of Art and the Making Parts 1-43 - 01. In the Eyes of My Soul (First Movement) 02. Creep Evil 03. Sleeping Beauty – The Journey 04. Purity 05. Sleeping Beauty – Connected 06. Tongue Angel 07. I Moved 08. Blackened in My Eyes 09. Temptations 10. Fiery Woman 11. Sweet Irony 12. Conversation of the Dead 13. The Perfect Heart 14. The Perfect Heart Part II – Think 15. The Key – Imagine 16. The Perfect Heart Part III (Modulated Instrumental) 17. The Black Widow 18. The Key Part II – Naked Truth 19. The Kiss of the Wind 20. Dark Wild Rage 21. Temptations Part II – Return (Modulated) 22. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 23. Cold as Blue 24. The Awakening 25. Cold as Blue – Like a Candle You Start to Drip 26. Bilingues Cavendi. One Should Beware of the Double- tongued 27. The Awakening Part II – The Smile 28. The Awakening Part III – Opening the Curtains to a Beautiful Sunny Morning Watching the Singing Birds 29. In the Eyes of My Soul (First Movement Modulated with Irony) 30. Past the Magic 31. Past the Magic Part II (Rhythmic Laughter) 32. Nightwandering on Needles 33. In the Eyes of My Soul (Second Movement Modulated with Irony) 34. In the Eyes of My Soul (Second Movement) 35. 6 Seconds Past 6 36. Organ Scientistic Formula (1) 37. Nightwandering on Needles Part II – The Answer 38. 6 Black Roses - Ship of Rowing Slaves 39. Autumn Fog Message 40. Sleeping Beauty Returns - The Black Box of Reverse (Forward) 41. The Black Box of Reverse 42. In the Eyes of My Soul (Third Movement) 43. In the Eyes of My Soul – For the Love of Art and the Making (Finale) Length: 37:50