The Khymera Project – 360 Review of The Grand Design

The Khymera Project was the brainchild of Italian producer/musician, Daniele Liverani and Kansas singer Steve Walsh. It became a regular project with the addition of bassist/producer Dennis Ward (Unisonic, Pink Cream 69) who, usually singing background, takes the lead for The Grand Design. Dennis is the only original member of the project performing on The Grand Design which was released on December 4, 2015 in Europe and North America. All the music and lyrics were written by Dennis Ward and Project collaborators. The Grand Design is the 4th album by Khymera which falls seven years after The Greatest Wonder.

The album is a wanderlust where melodic rock and power ballads ruled the airways and transported me back to a time where music not only moved your body but moved your soul.

A time where artists performed the music, wrote the music and lyrics and held high power over how it was produced. For me this was my early adulthood when life was uncomplicated and worry-free, when you could walk into a nightclub or a bar and in a matter of minutes be swept away into another world by the music and sound.

As I started to review the music, I found myself going to back to the music of The Greatest Wonder and asking myself why we don’t hear more about Khymera and what took so long to release The Grand Design.

The piano melodies on this album are nothing short of star quality and the vocal ranges keep you moving from one song to the next leaving you wanting more. The lyrics, also reminiscent of an era when words were poetic instead of static, maybe held a message and spoke from the heart take you through a time and space that make you proud that you were alive in the 80s and 90s and wished it upon the world today.

Let’s hope it doesn’t take another seven years before we hear another transcendent album by Khymera.