Beauty in the Midst of Pain 
Artist: Mark Hannah 
Label: Independent 
By Jeremy Choi 
 
A thirty-minute CD - no big deal, right?  Well, normally that would be the case, unless Mark Hannah's Beauty in the Midst of Pain is the disc in question.  Here there are only two tracks, almost 15 minutes apiece, the second one the instrumental sibling of the first one.  Both are titled "Beauty in the Midst of Pain".  If that is not spooky enough, have a listen to the rest...it will be apparent that this is no ordinary album. 
 
Beauty in the Midst of Pain is a beautiful piece of music, carefully crafted by Mark, heavily influenced by classical music and operatic themes. There is also a light-hearted side to the music, no doubt influenced by Mark's work with projects for Disney and ABC Television.  Take Saviour Machine or Queensryche, remove the art-rock/metal element, insert one female vocalist and the occasional choir, pen some poetic lyrical imagery, and the result is fairly close to what Mark Hannah has done.  Even more amazing is that Hannah wrote, played, produced, mixed, and engineered this whole thing himself.     
 
Although the album is technically two tracks, each track is identically divided into eight parts, creating a narrative, a story of sorts.  The album's central theme appears to be one of hope in despair, and eagerly awaiting rest and peace in the life to come:  
    What is this beauty in the midst of pain? 
    Where angelic tongues proclaim 
     "Hallowed Be Thy Name" 
    What is this beauty in the midst of pain? 
    This heavenly domain 
    This glorious refrain 
    What is this beauty in the midst of pain? 
    Where seraphim exclaim 
    "Hallowed be Thy Name" 
    What is this beauty in the midst of pain? 
    This soft and gentle rain 
    Redemption from the flame
Hannah uses many literary devices in order to convey his themes, not the least of which is rhyme.  It is implicitly incorporated into many parts of the song:    
    Falling in the night, burning bright, stars above 
    High up in the sky, voices, cry, without love 
    Gleaming angels choir, raining fire, melted tears 
    Purity in flames, gilded pain, haunted fears
 This writer's favourite part of the song is at the six minute mark or so of the track, where a piano gently plays a soft, whimsical, innocent, and nostalgic interlude which leads into the latter part of the track. 
 
Similarly, the vocals of Laura Fuino are very impressive, though this writer must embarrassingly admit that at first listen the vocalist sounded male rather than female.  Fuino's vocals may remind one of Air Supply's Russell Hitchcock, mixed in with a bit of Geddy Lee of Rush. That said, she has a good vocal range and a varied delivery, complementing the music which ebbs and flows like a decently crafted classical piece.   In track two, the instrumental version, it is quite obvious that even without the vocals the music holds its own with no problem.  One can even make a case that the instrumental version is much more moving, with the listener hearing the music and reading the words. 
  
No doubt the cover art will tip off the listener that this album is quite artsy in nature.  Once heard, many listeners will be impressed with Mark Hannah's immense talent, and will find Beauty in the Midst of Pain a  welcome addition to his/her CD library.  Listeners can also expect a full-length 70-minute collection of songs titled Forty Days/Forty Nights in the near future, which will include "Beauty in the Midst of Pain" as one of the tracks. 
 
For more information, write: 
 
Magic Rat Music 
P.O. Box 2445 
Toluca Lake, CA   91610 
U.S.A. 
818-762-2298 
attheerat@aol.com