=> www.rockreport.be Indie released (and reviewed by yours truly) a year ago, now made available through Escape Music, completed with 2 bonus tracks. This was what I wrote a year ago and I’m still behind it. Like the album title suggests, this is the first CD from Swiss melodic metallers Felony. It took the band leaders Markus Geiger (k, g, bv) and Thomas Brogli (b) a long time to find the perfect vocalist, but when they finally found Andreas Wildi last year (read: 2004), the time was ripe to record their first opus, together with Urs Fischer (g, bv) and Björn Rindlisbacher (d). What makes this “First Works” such a good album, are the catchy songs, the strong performance of the band as a whole (including the more than agreeable female lead & backing vocals from Andrea Richner) and – last but not least - the incredible sound. Most of the material was recorded at Geiger’s home studio (which allowed the band to take all the time they needed), but the drums, some additional vocals and the mix were done in professional studios in Wolfsburg under the guidance of nobody else than Sascha Paeth. Having worked with acts like Edguy, Epica, Kamelot and Rhapsody, Paeth knows everything about a professional sound and he certainly took “First Works” to the next level. Being THE indie release of the year, I’m quite confident they will be signed by one of the well-known labels out there. May I suggest Georg Siegl’s Metal Heaven? Well, it wasn’t Georg Siegl’s Metal Heaven, but Khalil Turk’s Escape Music that signed them and rightly so, because this band definitely deserves a breakthrough. You’d better check them out.