GARY WEHRKAMP (SHADOW GALLERY) & MARC CENTANNI Talk Prog-Metal Opera Project HARPAZO: “This Is A Theatrical Concept Album, With Powerful Musical/Lyrical Passages”

Sonic Perspectives

The Prog/Metal/Rock project Harpazo has been 16 years in the making. Back in 2008, Marc Centanni began taking guitar lessons from former Shadow Gallery axe-man/keyboardist/background singer Gary Wehrkamp. Centanni was something of a writer, and a poet, with an interest in religion.

He showed some of his work to Wehrkamp, who was suitably impressed. He decided to put the words to music, just to see what would happen.

Neither man could have imagined that it would take so long for the project to come to fruition. Life provided challenges. Wehrkamp’s home and studio were destroyed by fire—although the Harpazo tapes were saved. Covid put things on hold. The pair were continually refining the work, changing words, trying new instrumentation, and looking for a goal that they weren’t quite sure existed.

“The Crucible” Album Artwork

But it did. Harpazo – which basically translates to the biblical Rapture – comes out with the album “The Crucible” today (June 28). The final story, as Wehrkamp and Centanni told our contributor Mark Boardman, is a bit of a mashup. There are many references to the Bible’s Book of Revelation, with an anti-Christ figure and an ending of redemption and salvation. But it also has touches of AI, cyber tech, and more. Wehrkamp’s music—most of which he performed, with the help of several guest vocalists and instrumentalists—drives the Rock Opera to greater and greater heights.

The conversation also touched on the nature of faith and how the project brought each of them into a deeper understanding of and relationship with God. But it took them a long time to get there…

Order Harpazo‘s debut album “The Crucible” from HERE (USA) or HERE (Rest Of The World).

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The post GARY WEHRKAMP (SHADOW GALLERY) & MARC CENTANNI Talk Prog-Metal Opera Project HARPAZO: “This Is A Theatrical Concept Album, With Powerful Musical/Lyrical Passages” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.