Impera from Lisbon prefer to mix their metal with some groove and prog, albeit with the strong emphasis on the ‘metal’ part. The other bands of similar genre orientation place a premium on virtuoso musicianship and highly technical song structures, and while that also figures prominently into Impera’s music, these boys slather it all up in a special sauce that I like to refer to as ‘classic sauce.’ The group’s debut album “Weightless” sounds deliberately rustic and antiqued, like that milk-stained fake money you’d buy at the museum.
But production is not what prods Impera. What stimulates this band’s formidable corpus are five very talented musicians. It’s Daniel Chen, though, who takes home the MVP award on “Weightless”; if drummers are action figures, Chen carries both a rapid-fire uzi (the toms) and an erase-all, double-barreled bazooka (dual-bass drums). I guarantee, he will brutalize you.
Like their metal peers, Impera sport some mathematics. But where Meshuggah get deep into calculus and Dillinger Escape Plan prefer(red) trigonometry, these guys enjoy the more accessible stuff — we’re talking pre-algebra here. They drop in just enough to keep the arrangements flavourful, but not so much as to overload the vintage guitar riffs with Dream Theater-like complexity. And then they counterbalance it with some nice, old-fashioned, Sabbath-style metal attitude: guitars crunch, wail, and burn. The complete package sounds timeless, but in that unbelievable way that you’ve never heard before.
A great band whose raging, sodden hellfire now beckons you to warm yourself at its side throughout the impending winter months. A band whose crushing, odiferous, sodomizing blade dices like a Popeil cuisinart and runs you through with gruesome exactness. This band is Impera.
Years ago I had visited this rundown record store, and tucked away into one corner was this used CD – a grotesque cross-over artwork with Morbid Tales stamped on it. Of course, picking that up for the long drive back home was the next obvious step. Definitely not my first encounter with Celtic Frost, but this time they stunningly hit all the right notes. Not every day will someone inadvertently stumble into a Morbid Tales, quite an understated introduction for a viciously influential record.
How that eerie album intro explodes ‘Into the crypt of rays’—making an instant and deep impact. With the dusky coastal highway as an idyllic backdrop – a moment forever engraved in mind.
The whole experience was almost like discovering a trap door, straight into the nether vaults of metal. Suddenly, numerous aspects of late 80s and early 90s black/death wave starts to make sense. Those coarse structural patterns, surreal and nightmarishly poetic lyrics – they afflicted and spawned hordes of imitators. Some elevated those very elements to stratospheric levels. Quite like Venom — Hellhammer and Celtic Frost are vital, to grasping an era which otherwise might sound like sheer white noise.
Fleet Foxes is a progressive rock band in the same sense Gazpacho is, where what they’re getting at is a total environment or vibe rather than a particular baroque form of electric music with rock instrumentation. I read recently what I think is a good observation, that their third album, 2017’s Crack-Up, has an appropriate home in Nonesuch, which started as the classical wing of Jac Holzman’s Elektra Records, but in recent years has extended its reach to artful achievers in what we might otherwise think of as the rock world. It’s the right label for a band that doesn’t like to rush things. Their previous record, Helplessness Blues, was released in 2011, after which songwriter and lead singer Robin Pecknold, by then a rock star, decided to push pause and go to college and wait for the muse to revisit. It did.
In a rock world where everything is “post-,” Fleet Foxes shares with the other intelligent American bands of their era — thinking Spoon, Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket, Shearwater — a smart melodic sensibility and a complex vocal approach to its music, atop an intense but restrained musicianship. With a sound instantly identifiable, in its harmonies the band reliably draws comparisons with the Zombies, Moody Blues, and Crosby, Stills and Nash, and while I get it I don’t really hear it, maybe because I find Pecknold’s lyrics darker, funnier, better, or maybe because there’s no smack of the hippie, despite the hair, that so defined those groups. I think if anything Fleet Foxes taps into the reverb-drenched sound of 90’s Britpop, the adventurousness of the early 70s British folk scene, and the impressionistic poetics of Dylan‘s best work. Even while being on the inside there’s an outsider’s sensibility.
“Your Protector,” from Fleet Foxes’ 2008 self-titled debut, is like a puzzle you turn in your hands trying to figure out how it comes apart. I can’t really parse it, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a happy story, while the galloping, western-movie chorus is an inscrutable, spine-tingling chant difficult to forget.
As you lay to die beside me, baby On the morning that you came Would you wait for me? The other one Would wait for me
The live-in-studio version here shows the band in full flight, as part the second series in Nigel Godrich’s From the Basement program, and includes drummer Josh Tillman (aka Father John Misty) soon after he joined the group. There’s a sleekness to the work that speaks volumes on the meticulousness of the band’s constructions: the simplicity of the arrangement, the power in its dynamics, the harmonies. The air crackles and sparks.
soundstreamsunday presents one song or live set by an artist each week, and in theory wants to be an infinite linear mix tape where the songs relate and progress as a whole. For the complete playlist, go here:soundstreamsunday archive and playlist, or check related articles by clicking on”soundstreamsunday” in the tags section.
While we’ve not heard anything officially from the band, it looks as though they will be releasing a Christmas single on December 8 of this year. Here’s the writeup that appeared on Amazon’s UK page:
A beautifully festive cover. I presume it’s by Sarah Ewing.
Three times Progressive Music Award winning band, Big Big Train, will be releasing their first Christmas single on December 8th.
The single is called Merry Christmas and the vinyl and CD versions of the release will feature a b side called Snowfalls.
A donation to the Night Stop homelessness charity will be made for every copy sold.
Big Big Train vocalist David Longdon says: Merry Christmas is a song about rediscovering our childlike belief in the magic of Christmas, despite living in an over commercial and sometimes cynical world. After all, what wouldn’t you give to believe again, like you believed back then?
Bass player Greg Spawton: We wanted Merry Christmas to be a proper Christmas song, so it features the Big Big Train brass band, The Chapel Choir Choristers of Jesus College, Cambridge and, of course, sleigh bells.
The promotional film for Merry Christmas will premiere on 1st December and stars actor Mark Benton who says: When Big Big Train asked me to get involved with the video for Merry Christmas, I didn’t need much convincing. I’m a big fan of the band and love the way they tell stories through their beautifully crafted songs. This song is a real Christmas song with everything you need from choirs to sleigh bells. The video was great fun to shoot and hopefully really conveys the Christmas message. Let’s make it number one in the charts, the money’s going to a great cause. I’m playing triangle and kazoo on the next album but don’t tell the band because they don’t know it yet.
Merry Christmas will be released on 8th December on 7 inch snow white vinyl (with a gatefold cover), digipack CD, hi-res and standard-res download and streaming.
Dream Theater, Live at the Chicago Theater, Images, Words, and Beyond tour, November 3, 2017
Setlist:
Act I: The Dark Eternal Night, The Bigger Picture, Hell’s Kitchen, To Live Forever, Don’t Look Past Me, Portrait of Tracy (Jaco Pistorius cover by Myung), As I Am (with excerpt from Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”), Breaking All Illusions
Act II:Images and Words – Pull Me Under, Another Day, Take the Time (with extended guitar solo outro), Surrounded, Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper (Mangini drum solo and extended instrumental jamming), Under a Glass Moon, Wait for Sleep (extended piano intro), Learning to Live
Encore: A Change of Seasons
Pre-show
Last night, I saw Dream Theater live for the very first time, and I was not disappointed. I’ve been wanting to see them for a while, and it turned out that getting to the Chicago Theater from the far north side of the city is quite easy on the sheep herding machine… er public transportation. The Chicago Theater is absolutely gorgeous, and I’m amazed at how big the theater itself is. The theater has around 3,600 seats, and I’d be willing to bet there were over 3,000 people in attendance last night. Even though I was in the second to last row of the balcony, I could see the stage perfectly. The theater is designed in such a way that you can see from anywhere, so there are really no “bad” seats.
The band started off strong with the heavy “The Dark Eternal Night,” which was a perfect way to start the show. Heavy and intense, it pumped the crowd up instantly. When James Labrie came out after the instrumental opening of the song, he connected with the audience right away, including high fiving the people sitting in the pit. Throughout the entire concert, he spoke to the audience and interacted with them. Having only seen official live footage, I always saw Labrie as sort of aloof because there isn’t much interacting in the live footage. However, it is clear that he only acts distant for the filmed shows, because he did a phenomenal job as a frontman. I was thoroughly impressed.
I find “To Paint a Bird of Fire” to be a very special album. There is a sort of checklist you can go down when preparing to listen to this kind of modern extreme progressive metal, and Perihelion Ship basically hit everything on it… But they go a bit further than that.
What are some of the things on that checklist? You’ve got your combination of growled vocals and lighter ones, which we’ve seen the likes of Opeth and many others successfully employ. There are frantic passages driven by thundering double bass and softer, more atmospheric moments. Slick melodies abound in the guitar work, and there are hugely ambitious and lengthy tracks. It’s all there.
The thing about “To Paint a Bird of Fire” is that it isn’t just all there, it’s all there for a reason. This is songwriting taken to the next level. Every time there needs to be a softer moment it comes, and every time there needs to be a burst of aggression to release a building of tension, it comes too. In addition (and this is important), despite the obvious massive amounts of instrumental talent of the musicians, there is no shying away from using simpler riffs and chord progressions as building blocks to move a song forward.
I try and find some criticism of any album when reviewing. It’s tough for this one. “To Paint a Bird of Fire” is an album I really didn’t find boring at all. Song for song, it’s put together masterfully and is a great example of how it’s often better to create a shorter, focused, and wholly structured album than have 15 songs for the sake of having lots of songs where only 3 or 4 are really good. And importantly, as mentioned above, it’s got all the items on the progressive checklist not just for the sake of being called progressive, but because when you do those things right, you can make some great music.
“To Paint a Bird of Fire” is out now and is available from Bandcamp.
One album that I’m really looking forward to, although I do have a copy of it, is a full-length by Sacramento, California-based progressive metal project Lunar, titled “Theogony.” The project, with a core trio of drummer Alex Bosson, guitarist Ryan Erwin, and bassist Ryan Price, with singer Chandler Mogel, has completed an epic journey with “Theogony,” which is out on November 10th via Divebomb Records.
Alex Bosson spoke for Progarchy about the album, inspiration, and more.
Alright, first thing is first. Before we dive into all the music stuff, how’s life?
Life is wonderful! Really I love everything about my life these days. And music is a huge part of my life, obviously, so that makes things great since music stuff is going so well! I’m really proud and excited about this album release.
What was it like working on the “Theogony” album?
There’s so many answers to that question… [laughs] In one form or another I have been working on this album for almost 3 years!! At times it was frustrating trying to coordinate with people all around the world for all the parts they played. I think by the end there’s over 20 or maybe 25 people that worked on “Theogony” in one form or another. So trying to match up everyone’s schedules and everything can be exhausting. It sometimes was a full time job in itself. But it was totally worth it! Ultimately, working on this album was filled with fun, unforgettable experiences. The time spent in the studio with the musicians that contributed locally were always the most fun parts. I love being in the studio! And the other guest musicians around the world, when I would get emails from them with guest solos or something, my heart would just leap into my throat with excitement to hear what they had done. So although at times it was very difficult to make everything come together, working on this album was a fun, unique experience and I’m really proud of what I’ve accomplished!
Are there any touring plans in support to “Theogony”?
Unfortunately, no, there are no plans for touring. LUNAR has actually never had a live performance. I tried for a long time to turn the band into a full lineup so that we could tour and play live, but, so far, it hasn’t been able to happen. Ryan Erwin, Ryan Price and I all live in Northern California, but still hours apart. And Chandler Mogel (the vocalist on “Theogony”) lives in New York. And all the lead guitar duties were divided up between numerous guest musicians. So I hope someday I will have a lineup that I’m able to tour with, but for now, this is just a studio project. I did it that way because I didn’t want to delay getting the music out there any more than I already had.
While we are on the subject of touring, what countries would you love to tour?
Personally, I haven’t had the opportunity to tour nearly as much as I would like. So I would love to tour anywhere really! But I feel that progressive rock and metal has a much better reception in Europe so I would love to do a European tour someday. In terms of specific countries, I’ve always wanted to visit Sweden, Norway, Germany and the U.K., so I’d love to hit those places on a tour!
Who and what inspires you the most?
Well as cliche as it may sound in a music interview, nothing inspires me more than music. Like most musicians I think, it just has this chemical affect on my brain when I hear incredible music that can’t be matched by anything else in this world. So whether it’s from the feeling it gives me, the incredible musicianship of the players, or some lyrics that speak to me, that’s what inspires me to create the music that I do. It’s an important part of everything I do music related. Even while I sit here doing this interview I’m listening to “Nil Recurring” by Porcupine Tree. In terms of the musicians / bands that inspire me the most, being a fan of progressive rock and metal, I love the bands that are the most diverse, but still catchy. Ones that are incredibly talented and when someone who’s never heard them asks you to describe them, you can’t, because there’s nothing else out there to compare them to. So these days my personal biggest influences musically are acts like Opeth, Steven Wilson, Haken and Ayreon. And I’m sure you’ll hear tons of influence from those acts in “Theogony.”
What other genres of music do you listen to? Have any of the other genres you listen to had any impact on your playing?
Honestly I don’t often seek out other genres of music to listen to, but I don’t believe in the restriction of genre, so I will listen to just about anything that someone puts on to show me and I’ll try to find something that I can draw some kind of influence or appreciation for in it. That being said, prog is such a broad category of music that you can listen to a few different bands that are all considered prog and find so much range of sound and influence. Spending a day listening to Steven Wilson, Ayreon, Radiohead and Ihsahn spans so many different sounds, but they can all be considered progressive bands. For my personal playing, I try to watch individual drum videos as often as I can to learn new things in my playing style and ability, and with that I find myself watching drummers from different genres. I feel that it’s important to not pigeonhole yourself in your playing, especially if you’re into progressive music. And while I love watching rock and metal drummers play, I often find I’ll learn more and open myself up to new ideas watching jazz drummers or gospel drummers.
I really appreciate you giving us your time today. Is there anything else you would like to tell us and the fans before we wrap things up?
I guess I just want to say thank you to you guys at Progarchy for taking the time to interview me and thanks to all the fans that read this and check out “Theogony!” The album will be out November 10th. I’m really excited for it and I really hope everyone enjoys it!!!
“Theogony” is out on November 10th; pre-order it from Bandcamp here. Follow Lunar on Facebook.
Civortep is a progressive death metal project of Stefan Petrovic who gathered a group of guest musicians to help him with the creation and release of his debut EP “The Return.”
In the interview below, Stefan explains the meaning behind the project’s name, his writing process, and more.
What made you go for the name Civortep?
It is my last name backwards, I always thought it sounded neat so for my producer name I chose to have it as that.
How do you usually describe your music?
It has a little bit of everything in it! Not exclusive of any style, but I pretty much just go with what comes to mind and sounds equally as good.
What is your writing process like?
Write, Refine, Refine, Refine. For me I can’t play a lick and have it be a polished piece of gold from the beginning. It takes a lot of refining to get it to the point that I feel it is good enough to go with. And even then I may go back and build off of it even more.
Who or what is your inspiration, if you have any?
My biggest inspiration is independent musicians that can promote themselves and build an organic image without being manipulated both in their music and persona by the industry, which in my opinion produces clones, lacking in originality, like its existence depends on it.
What is your favourite piece on the “The Return” album?
I’m stuck between Shadow Covenant and The Return as my two favorites. The words are definitely the strongest points in my opinion, and I felt that the way I sung them expressed the emotion I was going for very well.
What makes “The Return” different?
It has a lot of elements that are very scarce within the metal community. I don’t like to be gridlocked by a method or any single type of approach, so I went all out including elements with synths, orchestra parts, and tons of sound effects.
What should music lovers expect from “The Return”?
A ton of variety that can pretty much satisfy any taste, from heavy elements, to atmospheric and melodic.
What kind of emotions would you like your audience to feel when they listen to your music?
I approached this album with a vision of including all emotions, so I hope that would translate over to the listener. There’s definitely enough variety within it to satisfy pretty much the whole emotional spectrum.
Pick your three favourite albums that you would take on a desert island with you.
Keep of Kalessin – Epistemology
Immortal Technique – The Martyr
Omar Linx – City Of Ommz
It can be said that a Finnish progressive death metal act Perihelion Ship offer an rollercoaster ride through Prog with their sophomore full-length release “To Paint a Bird of Fire.” Indeed, it feels as an album that has everything specific for the Prog genres since its inception in the late ’60s until today.
Mastermind Andreas Hammer walks us through the creative process for the new album.
Alright, first thing is first. Before we dive into all the music stuff, how’s life?
All is well. Trying to balance work, music and free time.
Speaking of new music, you have an album. What can people expect from “To Paint a Bird of Fire”?
“To Paint a Bird of Fire” is a little more straightforward than the debut, but the instrumentation is pretty much the same: a lot of Mellotron and Hammond Organ over heavy guitar riffs. The idea was to create a single 40-43 minute record to fit into one 12″ vinyl, like classic prog records. It ended up being a kind of a concept album, which is very evident in the lyrics.
There are two longs songs, two semi-long songs and two short songs, each displaying a variety of style in playing and composition, but still flowing nicely together.
What was it like working on the album?
It was fun at first: I recorded the backing tracks for drum recordings with guitars and virtual instruments after the songs were written last year.
The drum recordings went very smoothly and we had much better environment recording drums than last time and the sound ended up fantastic.
After the final bass and guitar tracks were recorded and re-amped, things started to get slow and frustrating.
Jani (keyboards) had a lot of work in his hands and had to really push to get the keyboards done in his free time.
I recorded the vocals at home during spring and mixed them as well. This was the most frustrating part, as the songs did not end up sounding the way I had envisioned them at first. Even though Kris McCormick (production, engineering) had the skills to put everything together nicely in the end, the negative effect of these events started to show a bit on the practice room during spring. Due to the growing pressure, Jani and Jouko (bass) decided to quit the band during Summer. Thankfully we found replacements: Pirkka Maksimainen (keyboards) and Mikael Aalto (bass) have joined us. Both are very capable players.
Are there any touring plans in support to “To Paint a Bird of Fire”?
No not touring in the traditional sense; we are an independent act and don’t have the resources or time to tour. But we will play as many shows we can through the winter and next spring with the new lineup.
While we are on the subject of touring, what countries would you love to tour?
US definitely, cause that’s where most of our fans reside and I haven’t personally been there yet. I’d like to see the nature and smaller, more inner-cities as well as the west coastline.
In Europe, I personally enjoy Germany and Italy and their neighboring countries. And maybe visit the dear Sweden next door sometime.
Who and what inspires you the most?
Inspiring art, nature and scientific advancements. For me, artworks have to have some kind of personal and emotional touch with them that shines through, and purely technical achievements do not really interest me (usually). This year, the new Pain of Salvation record as well as the new Bell Witch record are great examples of such art.
What other genres of music do you listen to? Have any of the other genres you listen to had any impact on your playing?
I still try to find great prog rock bands, but mostly I listen to underground metal and avant-garde. I do like synth/retrowave (you should check out Nightstop and their album “Streetwalker”) as well as classical piano music.
The fourth track from the new album; ‘River’s Three’, is inspired by classical guitar piece ‘Asturias’ by Isaac Albeniz, as well as the original Diablo -video game “Tristram theme” OST. Jani really nailed the Mellotron orchestrations in this song.
I really appreciate you giving us your time today. Is there anything else you would like to tell us and the fans before we wrap things up?
Thank you for the opportunity of being here. As most of our fans reside outside of Finland, it would be cool to record a live set and/or playthrough videos of our songs. You can find us on Facebook or www.perihelionship.fi
Progarchy 
