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February 2007
Released: 2006
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Anders Sandvall

At Felony’s core are Markus Geiger and Thomas Brogli – two Swiss guys that began work on their debut album once they found the perfect singer: Andrea Richner. Part of the album was recorded in Geiger’s home and the finishing touches were put on by the famous producer Sascha Paeth.

Felony’s music can be described as symphonic melodic hard rock that borders on classical hard rock, and having both a female and male singer adds depth and personality to the music. There’re a lot of longer instrumental passages in some songs, but that adds to the dynamic sound too. You can tell that the band was probably influenced by Nightwish when it comes to the arrangements and so on, but what band in this genre hasn’t been?

Even though the music is well-played, sometimes there is too much music and too many melodies instead of singing and that gets a bit tiring. FIRST WORKS’ brightest moments are “Justice”, “Freedom”, “After The Rain”, “Disappointed”, and “On Lifes End”. It’s a great album, but there are things that still need work if the band wants to go any further in the future.