PROG-ROCK (CONTD)...........
SMOKE & MIRRORS: White Roses Painted Red CD
Oh lord - if this band gets any more challenging in terms of reviews, things are gonna get mighty tough round here. You see, after a wickedly delicious psych debut followed by a gloriously full double CD we now get a new studio CD with a staggering 23 tracks over an equally mind-blowing seventy nine minute running time, and track times between just over one and five minutes long. Even more mind-blowing for a reviewer is that each of the tracks are individual - nothing crosses over or flows into one another. In anyone else's hands, this could be a recipe for disaster, but in the musical hands of Michael Ely & Spider Taylor, the result is astounding. So, what's it sound like? How long have you got? You could fill a small exercise book with a track by track review, but suffice to say the majority of the work is done on synths, keyboards, guitars, bass and percussion, the band calling them soundscapes, but in reality, so much more. As much progressive as electronic, the tracks are charting a course that takes in so many influences but none of them so direct you can point and say "oh, that sounds like……..", a perfect illustration of the originality of thought and composition that's gone behind this. Sounding at times like a prog-rock answer to In The Nursery with many of the themes and melodies taking on that familiar "accessible" mode and being suitably expansive, the overall effect is positively filmic and you could imagine a lot of the music here slotting rather well into TV broadcasts and films, everything from documentaries on the life of the fruit bat to scary movies. With so much to take in, I can say that it is a mix of richly textured symphonic music with an overriding influence from prog-rock along the way. But there's not a track here that's less than engaging, some of the shorter tracks belying their length by sounding so deep as the plethora of synths, strings and guitars weave and soar, Much of it is very beautiful but in a wholly substantial, cohesive way, while some of it is dark, some of it horizon-stretching, bits of it more minimal and all points in between. But it "sounds" like no-one else despite being so easily digestible and inventive. I found it absolutely riveting and one to play often as new things are revealed with every play. A work of great imagination, something quite different and enjoyable, and you have to take your hat off to the guys so confident that they recorded it and put it out.
TALISMA: Chromium CD
Canadian instrumental trio's second album that stays true to the spirit of prog in a big, big way. With a line-up of bass guitars, electric and acoustic guitars and drums/percussion, the bassist doubling up on synths and mellotrons, you'll find a veritable treasure trove of riches on this studio album. The main thing that keeps this on the proggy road is its creativity - the arrangements, the sounds and the styles are all prog-fusion as opposed to bland jazz-rock and every track is something into which you can dive, enjoy all that it has to offer, then move on, with each piece averaging around four to five minutes in length. The full sound is maintained practically throughout with the mellotron/synth-drenched backdrop allowing the three core members to whip up a storm. The production is superb as the bassist is right upfront with the guitarist, while the drummer really lets go from driving power to crisp subtlety, displaying dexterity and force in equal measures. As a set of instrumentals, it's immensely enjoyable, I wouldn't say particularly memorable, but definitely the sort of thing you'll play on a regular basis when you want something with venom and bite that rocks as well as having a melodic core that endears itself to you, time after time.
V/A: Progfest '97 DBLCD
Not only at an unbeatable price - not only a double CD - not only excellent quality recordings - but a set of live tracks, exclusive to this CD from the likes of John Wetton Band (with three tracks from his UK/King Crimson days, including a steaming ten minute rendition of Crimso's 'Starless'), Italian prog band from the '70's Le Orme, still playing prog rock that sounds fine and even throwing in a fifteen minute first part excerpt from 'Felona And Sorona', and a couple of tracks from the UK's Arena. On CD 2 you'll hear two fantastic tracks from Flower Kings of which the first is a twelve minute, mellotron-festooned rendition of 'Retropolis', an instrumental that twists and turns going through many changes in classic seventies-styled prog-rock traditions, with tons of stunning electric guitar soloing and dueling not to mention stirring work from the keyboards and a tight, powerful rhythm section, then it's over to a fifteen minute 'Humanizzimo', a track that achieves a similar feel and sound but this time much more lyric-dominated, two tracks that showcase all that made the band such a force way back then. The two tracks from Spock's Beard are much more in keeping with, as you'd expect, the early studio albums before they found the art of "throwing in the kitchen sink", and come across as much more overtly traditionally "prog" than you might remember. The come three tracks from a band called Big Elf, who I'd not heard before, and who are much more of a seventies rock influenced prog brew than anyone else on here, more Deep Purple than Genesis. The CD ends with what is actually a neat track from Swedish mellotron-guitar-synths-keys-vocals-rhythm section act Sinkadus. Overall, at this price, with hardly a foot out of place for the hardened prog-fan, it's an exciting album at an equally exciting price - but hurry - the supply is strictly limited at this offer price.
XSAVIOR: Xsavior CD
A million influences at work here but chiefly we're in that prog-rock-AOR hinterland as evidenced by the likes of groups such as It Bites, Asia & Ambrosia - the strong songs, the anthemic choruses, the dramatic lead vocals, the layers of harmonies - with a more modern production to bring out the expanive nature of the arrangements. Further influences go as far back as 'Talk'-era Yes and as up to date as bands like Drama & Spocks Beard. The twelve songs here have that trademark sounding huge arrangements which sound like there's about ten people playing the stuff, while the synths and keys and electric guitars whip up a storm but within the confines of typically pomp-rock Americana styled prog songs. Several are more memorable than others thanks to the hooks and choruses, and overall there's a sense of a big band trying to get out. If you like your prog on the AOR side, then this is right
up there.
PSYCHEDELIC/STONER/SPACE-ROCK:
DREAM DEATH: Back From The Dead CD
Describing themselves as "Pittsburgh sludge metal" and with thirteen tracks over seventy eight minutes, this is actually a CD of their three demos from the mid-late '80's and it's pretty sludgy, that's for sure - and that's pretty all encompassing too. What it isn't is pretty - this is big, black ugly music - the Medusa of Doom Metal. Some tracks are slow, some tracks are faster, most sound like the vocalist's singing in a cave while the guitarist has luckily managed to escape, riffing his way to freedom. The rhythm section is well……errrr…….sludgy…. and the songs are fairly bleak it has to be said. If ever you're in the mood to listen to this, then stay away from me!!
EWIGKEIT: Conspiritus CD
Their previous album 'Radio Ixtlan' was described as 'Dark Side Of The Moon' for the new death metal fans - a pretty accurate description. Well, they're back with a new studio album and here we're talking 'Warrior On The Edge Of Time' for the new death metal fans, for this is space-rock-meets-nu metal in a way that is simply jaw-dropping. The arrangements are pure live Hawkwind, the bizarre thing being that the vocals are actually the closest thing, and it's not that far off either, but if you can imagine a cross between Hawkwind, Opeth & Devin Townsend, then you'll be close to the storm force songs that you'll hear on this album. Sheer genius!
FRANCIS MONKMAN: Jam CD
Now this album will astound you - trust me!! With Monkman playing just electric guitar, fellow Curved Air bassist and drummer plus second lead guitarist, it's an all instrumental series of jam sessions, edited down from five hours of tapes, to provide one absolutely storming album of dual-guitar jamming that comes across as a mix of vintage seventies Ash Ra Tempel mixed with the jamming spirit and, to a degree, style of artists such as Hendrix & Quicksilver Messenger Service. But, throughout its length, the one thing that comes across is the sheer excitement, energy and playing genius that these musicians exercised in a jamming situation, the creative process worthy of any of the more well known guitar jamming bands that came out of the seventies Krautrock boom. A track such as the eight minute 'Baghdad/Return To Calvary' being THE most obvious mix of the Krautrock and USA West Coast guitar jamming styles and, for a slice of more introspective music, utterly riveting as you could almost imagine it being an outtake from the legendary first two Cosmic Jokers albums, only then for the quartet to go on to the eight minutes of 'Sol Y Sombra' and tear your head apart with some of the most spectacular, sizzling psychedelic electric guitar duelling that you'll hear, here a mix of psych and Krautrock that blows you away. Across 8 incendiary tracks, this is twin electric guitar jamming that inhabits all the best facets of what made the seventies guitar bands so timeless, and has to be one of THE great "unknown" albums of the last 15 years - anyone into red hot electric guitar work that take from psych, Krautrock and West Coast, just HAS to own this album - you won't be disappointed.
NEKTAR: Door To The Future - The Light Show Tapes Vol 1 CD
The first in what is to be a series of previously unreleased live concert recordings from the band's archives, and here we find them on tour in Germany in 1974 from a mixing desk recording, thus ensuring and reassuring that the sound quality is absolutely excellent. With a clutch of five previously unreleased songs plus unique versions of songs, this is a seventy-four minute trip through the band's show at the time, just predating the 'Down To Earth' album with tracks from two concerts in Feb and June '74. With tracks from four to eleven minutes long, the playing and singing is more powerful than on many a studio album with more of an edge to it. That said, the music flows well enough and, apart from the version, more of a medley, of tracks from 'Remember The Future', it's very much biased towards the song side of things, admittedly with some great solos in there along the way from guitar and organ, while the whole feel of what made the band such a force of their own brand of sci-fi rock, is retained throughout. Fans of the band will lap it up - while those unfamiliar with all or most of the band's music, will find better places to start than this.
PALE DIVINE: Thunder Perfect Mind CD
In the realms of the so-called stoner rock circles that seems to have doom metal at one end and psychedelia at the other, eventually a band has to come along who simply rise above all of that and reveal themselves to be what is termed" the classic heavy rock trio" and this band are exactly that. Much of the album has the feel of stoner rock, but the way they play it, the sheer energy and enthusiasm that they inject into the music and the fact that the guitar work in particular, and the band as a whole, would easily rival anything put out by the likes of Cream, Robin Trower, Mountain & Mahogany Rush, is simply illustrating that this is one surefire winner of an album. With vocals that are a mix of sung and hollered, a sort of stoner-rock/blues version of Lemmy, the 12 songs and over seventy three minutes of music on this album are nothing short of blistering, but it's not about speed or bombast - no, this is all about quality. Sure, it's as heavy as a wrecking ball with riffs that will take the fillings out of your teeth and rhythms that hit you right in the gut, but the arrangements and composition are the stuff of stoned dreams while the star turn throughout is the guitar work which just sizzles, shines, soars and steams its way through track after thunderous track, the solos taking the roof off from start to finish. All told, including two bonus live tracks, this is the perfect seventies styled mix of stoner rock and blues rock for the new millennium and as hot an album of its kind you'd be hard pushed to find.
PENANCE: The Road Revisited CD
1992 debut album revived from the actual master tapes and a completely different recording from the one that actually saw the light of day originally. Shelved until now, this is one steaming gem of an album, full of monster riffs in the stoner traditions, most tracks taken at a pace that could be called "lumbering" and the heady, unmistakable whiff of early Black Sabbath penetrating most of what is played. Many of the tracks are taken at tempo befitting first two albums era Sabbath, while a couple of three of the longer tracks, start slowly and build to quite a furnace-heat finale. The dual lead guitars dominate the sound as the rhythm section backs it all up with strong and solid playing, the production once again, absolutely spot on and bringing out the best in the compositions. With more instrumental space than the average such album, it's slow molten metal that sounds every bit as good now as it did thirteen years ago.
SPACIOUS MIND: Rotvalta CD
First new studio album in years from one of the finest psychedelic jamming bands on the planet and it's a positive pleasure that I tell you they've lost none of the spark that made the first two electric CD's, the stuff of legend. With six tracks in fifty five minutes, including 1 at over seventeen minutes, this is back on form with a vengeance as the twin lead guitarists sail away, dueling and sparring and flying high in harmony, reminding you in parts of everything from classic seventies Krautrock to vintage 'Greasy Truckers'-era Man. All instrumental, it's a psychedelic and Krautrock fan's dream album, with some of THE most stunning guitar work around, as the band plays an absolute scorcher, and, in now seemingly typical fashion for this sort of music, after over forty minutes of heady delights, the final track is a more subdued nine minute piece that substitutes atmosphere for firepower. Elsewhere, they start proceedings in furnace-heat fashion with a seven minute track that blazes out of the speakers in waves of guitar squalls, organ runs and solid rumbling work from bass and drums before it all subsides then starts to build, becoming ever louder as the organ and soaring electric lead guitars rise upwards, only then to fall back to earth as the track subsides once more - just fantastic. The seventeen minute second track begins sounding more like an early seventies Krautrock band such as early Mythos or Guru Guru, again fairly subdued as lilting bass, spacey guitars and gentle but solid drumming create the scene to perfection as you are transported right back to those amazing musical pioneering days. But then the electric guitars power up on waves of cyclical jamming as the red hot riffs and searing leads provide a firepower of steaming psychedelic rock that is just phenomenal as the bass pounds, the percussion rattles and shakes and the band climb ever higher, becoming ever more intense and electrifying, only then to drop back and end the piece in the mood in which it began - as a whole, even more amazing than the opening track. From there it just doesn't stop as this magical mix of Krautrock and psych continues unabated to extraordinarily stunning effect. Has to be said - a totally indispensable album!!
THTX: Magic Frequencies CD
A stunning new find. No idea about them apart from the fact that there are two main members of the band along with assorted guests and they play a predominantly instrumental brew of jamming psychedelic rock and heady guitar-driven Krautrock that is just so "seventies" styled, it's hard to believe it's not a lost seventies gem. With five tracks in forty minutes, the electric guitar work is just jaw-dropping as wah-wah guitars and grungy riffs, steaming psychedelic solos and dynamic, solid electric bass, propelled by assorted paces of crunching drums, reveal a set of tracks that Pink Fairies would have been proud to call their own. You'll be lighting the bong and crying "farrrrrr out maaaann" at every opportunity. The final fourteen minute track, drops the steaming guitars in favour of a huge rumbling, driving psychedelic soundpool with deep bass, stretched out cosmic organ work, rumbles from the depths, and the decided feel of classic seventies "Krautrock" as evidenced by something like the more introspective, cosmic sides of early Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream & Cluster. As a mix of psychedelic and Euro-rock, and 95% instrumental, this is a gem.
WALL OF SLEEP: Sun Faced Apostles CD
Arguably the kings of modern stoner rock, this is the third offering from this band and they just get better and better with every release, better in every aspect of their work. Produced to perfection, this captures the whole essence of what makes grungy, slowly riffing but thunderous stoner rock such a force to be reckoned with in the right hands. Every one of the tracks on here is fuelled with molten guitars and bass oozing and pouring out of every crevice as this massive slice of metal marches on relentlessly as you sit there simply amazed at the sheer quality of what you're hearing. Largely taken at slow paced, the tracks seem to have that timeless spark to them and at no stage does anything resembling boredom creep in - just the opposite in fact - as you are hooked to the whole thing from start to finish. The vocals are strong and well placed in the mix, while the whole grungy, guitar-fuelled, riffing and rhythmically red hot sound of the band allied to seriously strong compositions, will be the sort of album that you'll have at your finger tips fro a long time to come. Stunning and then some, this is the acceptable face of stoner rock at its most enjoyable.
WORLD BELOW: Maelstrom CD
A stoner rock/doom metal quartet who take the genre by the scruff of the neck and make it into something of quality and distinction. For a start, two of the guitarists also play synth, and that alone makes the compositions more full-sounding, a welcome addition to the surging sea of electric guitars, bass and drums that most albumsof this ilk would have on their own. With 7 tracks over forty-seven minutes, the band get a chance to shine as the guitar work rages out, but each track is perfectly produced to bring out the whole anthemic nature of what in most hands would just be a wall of sludge. But don't worry - the riffs are big and beefy, the bass work pounds and throbs and melts while the drums take on a seriously heavy dimension, and above all of this the lead and harmony (yes, harmony!!) vocals, sing the songs to perfection, the whole thing coming off as an AOR version of stoner/doom rock, probably the most palatable such album of its kind that I've yet to hear and anyone into good solid, strong and streaming metal, just has to hear this album. The dynamics of the tracks and their arrangements ensure that your attention is more than held throughout, and at no time do you get bored or want to skip anything. This is rock solid, classic Sabbath-influenced heavy metal taken into a wholly new dimension, and one of the best of its kind around - essential listening and no mistake.
ROCK/METAL, etc:
ARMAGEDDON: Armageddon - Remaster/Digi-Pak CD
'Tis a little known fact that, in amongst the plethora of '70's rock bands that made albums featuring both moments of genius and stupefying boredom, one band that hardly anyone knew, made one of THE rock albums of the '70's with not a less than engaging track on the whole thing. This was Armageddon - a sort of "unknown supergroup" fronted by ex-Yardbirds/Renaissance vocalist Keith Relf with ex-Steamhammer musicians, bassist Louis Cennamo and guitarist Martin Pugh, together with ex-Winter Brothers drummer Bobby Caldwell. Armed with just 5 tracks across a forty minute album, they came up with an album that still sounds absolutely stunning to this day.
Opening with the near eight minutes of 'Buzzard', you're hooked the moment you hear the swirling electric guitar lead that opens the album, the rhythm section crashing in as the guitar revolves and solos, soaring ever higher as the drums and bass provide the propulsion, as classic a seventies rock sound as you'll get, as the whole thing climbs on a wave of guitar work that sizzles - two minutes of brilliance before Relf's vocal enters and takes the song even further on - as classic a slice of seventies rock as you'll find, with guitar work to die for and more than a few influences from classic Led Zeppelin in both the guitar soloing and arrangement - one of THE best opening tracks on a '70's rock album, for sure. From there, though, as if anything else could happen after that, the next track slows things down with a gorgeous backing from just chiming guitars and throbbing bass, as Relf's vocal goes slightly higher and soars over the guitar melodies, the effect quite spellbinding as the song sounds like it ought to be something out of the Yes repertoire but isn't, the backing like a much more melodic balladic early seventies Green-era Fleetwood Mac, and when, just before the five minute point, in almost 'Stairway To Heaven' manner, the drums are finally introduced, the whole song is simply fantastic as it climbs towards its anthemic chorus-laden finale, the guitar scything through to provide a classic Page-esque solo, as the whole thing slowly fades at just over eight minutes. But then you're taken back to earth with a vengeance as the steaming riff and crunching rhythms that open 'Paths Planes & Future Gains' roars into life, the song sparking into existence with Relf just opening up over the incendiary guitar backing, and the whole song then goes up a notch in its intensity as a classic slice of Zeppelin-esque riffing and rolling causes the hairs to stand up on the back of your neck, the vocals just flying, as the guitar goes supernova and the band drive it all forward, as stunning as they come and one of the finest four minutes of rock that the seventies produced.
The eight minute 'Last Stand Before' is a bit more bluesy but still with the band's trademark rocking and still a decidedly Zep-esque arrangement, as the combination of cascading, cyclical riffing, soaring multi-tracked vocals, steaming rhythm section and electrifying lead guitar work, pretty well take your breath away, Relf even adding bursts of harmonica as icing on the cake, the guitar lead just scorching as the two instruments duel over the driving drums and pounding bass, this extended instrumental break being the finale as the song slowly fades. Finally, we are launched headlong into the twelve minute, 4-part suite that closes the album in the form of 'Basking In The White Of The Midnight Sun', opening with more classic riffing before the rhythm section drives the fast-paced song and the vocals are almost at the back of the mix, the guitar sound a much lower register, as the whole thing hurtles along, only for the guitar suddenly to break out into this phenomenal lead that sizzles as the band then decelerate and a more bluesy section two of the song ensues, again totally Zep and just sublime. In a sizzling sea of blazing guitars, bursts of harmonica and searing rhythms, the third part practically tears the roof off, before charging straight into the roaring instrumental fourth part that ends the song in a ball of fire.
One of THE most underrated rock albums of the seventies, you simply won't believe that you've managed to go all this time without owning it - well, now's your chance to redress the balance as you'll play this long, loud and often!!
BLIND TO: Promising Dreams, Selling Nightmares CD
With the increasing numbers of bands around on the UK hardcore/indie rock/emo scene in the wake of bands such as FFAF & Fony, it must surely be getting harder and harder to produce an album of this sort of music that is going to make the critics and public stand up and take notice - yet this band have managed it effortlessly. Their debut album exhibits such a sense of rage and emotional intensity set in musical arrangements that are absolutely huge, but at the same time exhibiting a great sense of dynamics too. With dual guitars providing a riffing rifle-fire release that positively explodes, a rhythm section that crunches, powers and drives, not to mention dual vocals that simply soar over the heat of the music, every song on this stunning debut, delivers. Take a track like 'Legna' for example - opens with strummed electric bass and solo emotive vocal from lead singer Alex Maxwell as the lead guitars chime in at the same pace, cymbals rustle in the distance, a brief pause, and then - kerboommmm!!!! - the whole band take off like a rocket as the vocals fly and this wall of sound covers the sky - but then the song moves up a gear with the bass now right upfront and pummeling away amid the riffing guitars, before all that dies back to reveal the strummed bass now accompanied by a slow rock-solid drum rhythm, and the whole thing starts again, exploding as before and simply sensational to hear, one of the most fantastic tracks on an album choc full of corking compositions and inventive arrangements. Above all, this rocks and overflows with nuclear furnace, guitars-driven heat, as huge sounding emo-core songs sizzle and shine then explode into your consciousness. 13 tracks and nothing less than addictive, this is a band destined for the lofty heights that this set of songs achieves.
BR:GADE: Made To Wreck EP CDEP
Oh wow - the first thing you are really aware of on the opening title track here is that production - it's just awesome as the band roar into life. This immense wall of sound bursts into life but with a clarity that most bands would die for, every facet of the band on full display to jaw-dropping effect. So, against a wall of searing dual guitar riffing and thunderous bass, mixed with rock solid drumming, as the instrumental intro twists and turns, the vocalist enters in impassioned mode, every word perfectly audible and superbly sung, as the backing briefly drops back to a whisper, before this torrent of guitars erupts and the rhythms hammer, but then the song turns yet again as rapid-fire rhythms take it off at another tangent, the guitars chiming together in the background, and the whole thing is just huge-sounding, heavy, dynamic, inventive and muscular - writing and playing in perfect harmony, four minutes of utter genius - and this is only the first track of four. You see, this band are awesome and know it - they up the anti on 'Safe Hands' with a song that follows a similar pattern to the first, but, if anything, the guitars are even more electrifying as this immense wave of the things riffs and flies, the song sung to perfection with added harmonies as the icing on the cake while the whole band just surge forward and explode, the intensity increasing as the end nears, so much so that you feel the end of the world may well be nigh. Awesome!! It's immediately into the adrenaline rush of 'Met Me At My Funeral' with a more direct, faster rhythm base as a tower of riffing and swirling guitars drives ahead, the multi-tracked vocal above the mix, emotive, pleading and on fire. Finally 'Null & Void' delivers the killer blow with a roaring slice of song-writing that ends the EP on a glorious sea of dense riffing, pounding rhythms, searing guitar leads and emotive vocals - to die for and then some. As 19 minutes of music goes, this is faultless, and the album is going to be explosive - I can feel it - but for now, whether you're into nu-metal, emo, hardcore, indie-rock or anything, you have to get this just to see what happens when a band comes along that can deliver the goods in every department and yet bring something refreshing and exciting to the world of rock. Outstanding and brilliant!!!
