Review: Anubis – The Second Hand

On By NickIn Progressive rockLeave a comment

Anubis - The Second Hand

I haven’t had anything similar on my musical plate for a while, so Anubis’ fourth album The Second Hand was an interesting, beautifully surprising and absolutely brilliant variation. Again Anubis mixes progressive sounds with cinematic elements top notch instrumentation with the addition of dynamic riffing and amazing vocals. The outcome is a unique sound that is quite inimitable and rare to find. How much you enjoy the new record will mainly depend on how you respond to this incredible mix and the singing style used by the vocalist. Anyway Anubis rules, especially at night.

The Second Hand is a concept album charting “the downfall of an aging media mogul, James Osbourne-Fox, who, after a severe brain injury is left paralysed and imprisoned in his own body and left to contemplate the futility of his life of corporate success.” The Second Hand is for sure full of emotion and humanity and the way the Australian band reproduces in music the story and the psychosis of the protagonist is wonderful.

Anubis

As it’s the case with most concept albums, The Second Hand requires time and patience to be understood and to gain the listener’s estimation and it will reward open minded audience. Play it in the dark to fully experience its great music.

The album kicks off with the title song which sets the tone and the mood for the rest of the 9-track record. There’s something disarmingly powerful about vocals from Robert James Moulding that add incredible depth to a song. The intermittent piano notes are just perfect and the dramatic keyboard sound is like a nice shade of color you don’t notice on painting but that painting wouldn’t be the same without it. A great bonus.

“Fool’s Gold” starts exactly where the title track ends but adding a dark shadow to the overall atmosphere. There are still vocals but now are slower and they mix perfectly with the other instruments. The bass is gorgeous and the way the song turns into a more ambient and atmospherical dimension is great. It’s such a damn good track. “These Changing Seasons I” is a slow voice-and-piano piece that also perfectly fits the story and musically serves as an intermediary between the album’s parts. The album continues with “The Making of Me” which feels straightforward for the most part, with vocals leading the game on this one. “While Rome Burns” comes with an atmosphere reminiscent of Pink Floyd; slow synths-driven opening with guitar work influenced by David Gilmour, it certainly is one of the highlights here. “Blackout” is far more song-oriented piece in a classic intro-verse-chorus manner, but it also includes some of the best instrumental work during its almost 8 minutes.

“These Changing Seasons II” is another slow-burning piece with Moulding in the leading role, accompanied with the acoustic guitar strumming. The 16-odd minutes epic “Pages of Stone” is a centrepiece where the band absolutely gives their best. It includes everything crucial for the story: an atmospheric cinematic intro and perfect delivery by the whole band.

An album which engages on a variety of levels, with The Second Hand Anubis have delivered something of power, emotion and beauty and one which sets you thinking on a variety of different levels. More importantly it’s a cracking good listen (especially through headphones) and one which familiarity only continues to improve.

The Second Hand is available from Bandcamp.

The New Yorker Takes on Prog

On By Thaddeus WertIn Progressive rock4 Comments

There’s a nice piece on prog rock by Kalefa Sanneh in the latest issue of The New Yorker magazine. Clearly, the author isn’t sure what to make of the genre, but he gives a fair assessment of its early years, and the unfair treatment rock critics dished out in the seventies. I wish he had written more on the current thriving scene, but it’s nice to get some respect in a mainstream publication.

You can read “The Persistence of Prog Rock” here:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/19/the-persistence-of-prog-rock

 

SOUL ENEMA Releases New Album; Feat. Arjen Lucassen, Yossi Sassi, etc.

On By NickIn Progressive rock1 Comment

Soul Enema

Israel-based Progressive Metal band Soul Enema is announcing a release date of the upcoming album  titled Of Clans and Clones and Clowns. Out on June 23, the album is now available for pre-order from Bandcamp and iTunes.

The promising band’s second album represents an interesting and varied combination of influences, including 14 tracks mixed an mastered by legendary Jens Bogren (Opeth, Devin Townsend, Paradise Lost, Symphony X).

Soul Enema has issued a statement on the forthcoming album saying:

“Looking back, it took a lot of time and effort to create ‘Of Clans and Clones and Clowns,’ and the final result brings the feeling of a real accomplishment. It was a long, complicated process, constantly laden with a myriad of good reasons to give up or compromise. It probably couldn’t be any different, as our goal was a mature, well-produced statement, consistent in quality throughout, and at the same time versatile enough in its various moods, styles and approaches.

“A creative and diverse Rock/Metal album, exploring vast melodic and rhythmic territories — from ABBA to Zappa, from King Crimson to King Diamond, between East and West and way beyond — in true progressive fashion. Like any reflection of the world we live in, it takes a wild ride over a wide emotional spectrum: sad, funny, perfectly sane, totally insane, very direct, quite obscure, and everything in between.”

Of Clans and Clones and Clowns also features guest contributions from Ayreon’s Arjen Lucassen, Yossi Sassi (ex-Orphaned Land, Yossi Sassi Band), Sergey Kalugin and Yuri Ruslanov (from leading Russian proggers Orgia Pravednikov).

The band commented: “We had a great honor of featuring the instrumental talents of these,  as well as other wonderful musicians. Our next aim was to ensure that all of these components  work in the final picture, and that’s the reason why we welcomed one of the best guys on the list to mix and master this work — Jens Bogren. It deserved the best possible treatment, just as you as a listener deserve the best possible quality. The mixing process was far from trivial, and it took some effort to shape everything our way – clear and powerful enough, yet not overproduced. So, if you like what you hear, please order yourself a CD, or the highest quality digital download, to have it the way we really meant it to sound – full-scale and uncompromising. We hope you will have your own exciting experience with the album!”

Soul Enema released a few singles from Of Clans and Clones and Clowns, you can check them below.

Of Clans and Clones and Clowns is out on June 23th, and it can be pre-ordered from Bandcamp or iTunes. Visit Soul Enema’s official website for more information, and follow them on Facebook.

Of Clans and Clones and Clowns Track Listing:

1. Omon Ra

2. Cannibalissimo Ltd.

3. Spymania

4. Breaking the Waves

5. The Age of Cosmic Baboon

6. In Bed With an Enemy (ft. Y. Ruslanov, S. Kalugin)

7. Last Days of Rome

8. Dear Bollock (Was a Sensitive Man)

9. Aral Sea I – Feeding Hand

10. Aral Sea II – Dustbin of History (ft. Yossi Sassi)

11. Aral Sea III – Epilogue(ft. Sergey Kalugin)

12. Octopus Song

13. Eternal Child (ft. Arjen Lucassen)

14. Of Clans and Clones and Clowns

soundstreamsunday: “Drowning in the River Half Laughing” by Joe Henry

On By Craig BreadenIn americana, country, folk music, folk rock, Progressive rockLeave a comment

joehenry2 - EditedJoe Henry always tells it like it is.  What this “it” is depends on his song or object of the moment, but if artistry is about honesty then here’s a man who can be a W. Eugene Smith one minute and a Romare Bearden the next.  His is an Americana in context, wrought with a realism that has to, must, consider the world beyond the borders of his song.  And yet his skill at creating a complexity of life within the three- or four-minute lengths typical of his work belies this, so that his portraits are breathtaking and you are standing next to him, watching and hearing him compose a complete picture.

1990’s Shuffletown recalls both the chamber folk-pop of Cat Stevens and the improvisational glow of Astral Weeks, T-Bone Burnett’s restrained production going live to two-track and allowing a breathing space that played against the channel-filling fashion of its time.  I remember, then, marveling that an album like this could even get made anymore, much less thought of.  A modern record with a backroads feel that doesn’t get lost in bucolic moods or sentiment, it is more defining in its sound and in its genre than it gets credit for.  At its core — and the same could be said of Morrison’s and Stevens’ records — is an immediately recognizable voice, for Henry’s finesse with language is honored by a vocal delivery that is hip to its own thing, knows it limits and its power and its text.  It’s also full of hooks, patient in its timing, finding and following melody in Shuffletown‘s deep dusks and twilight.

“The moon is losing ground, drowning in the river…”

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 above.

Rick’s Retroarchy: Works Volume 2 by Emerson, Lake and Palmer

On By kruekuttIn Progressive rockLeave a comment

by Rick Krueger

When I picked up Works Volume 2 (on the day after Thanksgiving 1977, at Hansen’s Music Store in Greenville, Michigan — thanks for taking me along, Mom!), it didn’t feel like a disappointment.  In fact, on first listen it was a nifty change of pace from the orchestral bombast of Volume 1 — 12 shorter tracks, all new to me, exploring the jazz, blues and boogie that only occasionally showed up on ELP’s earlier records.

Continue reading “Rick’s Retroarchy: Works Volume 2 by Emerson, Lake and Palmer” →

Apex explained track-by-track! [UPDATED] @UnleashArchers @NapalmRecords

On By Time LordIn Progressive rock1 Comment

Recently I highlighted the excellence of Apex, the new heavy metal concept album from Unleash the Archers, and I supplied you with some links for reading about it.

For a detailed track-by-track explanation, here’s the band’s amazing vocalist, Brittney Slayes, taking you through the story.

How great is it that in the age of YouTube we get video supplements as liner notes?! Wow… enjoy… and remember to follow me to Apex…



Review: Adaen – Welcomer

On By NickIn Progressive rockLeave a comment

There are times in every music lover’s life where a record’s concept, ambition, and execution is understood and loved immediately. Not just by the heart and how it makes you feel but on an intellectual level as well. These moments are when one truly appreciates an artist’s creation. Welcomer has all the essential ingredients to conjure up this feeling in anyone who listens to it with no fluff added.

More focused than the meandering nature of Muse and more immediate than the sometimes glacial pace of TesseracT, Adaen is a project, led by composer, singer and guitarist Valentine Berezin who is joined by bassist Alexander Vorontsov and drummer Leonid Nikonov, striking a balance seldom can attain, much less in the realm of progressive rock/post-metal. The sheer number of ideas as to where to go and what to do with the medium has resulted in many albums either going too far with the wall of noise or holding back too much in fear of doing so. Welcomer doesn’t experiment with the plethora of soundscapes and instruments available to those subscribing to the jazz/fusion moniker but instead chooses to hone its more contemporary musicianship to a razor sheen. Every instrument is clearly differentiated and contributes to the different cascades of mood every song portrays. The guitars in particular showcase a perfect mix of distorted riffage and technical fret play which play through and off each other artfully. The noodling has a clear focus in each song, and never seems to just fill space. In fact, the entirety of the record gives a definite sense of progression, carrying the listener from one section to the next seamlessly and gives off a welcome cohesiveness.

Adaen live

At the heart of Welcomer is its concept, which is that of stripping away the superfluous qualities of emotion, situation, and inspiration and leaving behind only its essence. This is the “concept” in terms of following certain vibe and structures, and perfectly describes the band’s direction with the absence of a variety of instruments and the sharp focus of the songs. That is not to say Welcomer drags on at any point, in fact the pacing is beautifully crafted. Musically, the record achieves everything it was made to do.

Adaen bestow upon the masses a genre-defining album, displaying a marvellous blend of experimentation, songwriting expertise (not using that word lightly), and the feeling of plain rocking. The strange juxtaposition of using a concept of stripped-down instrumentation, conveying feeling and moods at their most basic level using a framework as frequently ostentatious and gaudy as progressive rock is not lost on this reviewer and the fact that it’s pulled off so well by three guys only is quite a feat. Those who want thrills without frills in their music cannot go wrong by giving this a listen.

Welcomer is available here.

King Crimson, Heroes

On By kruekuttIn Progressive rockLeave a comment

by Rick Krueger

“Studio and live are two worlds. Would you, the audience, prefer to have a love letter or a hot date? Each have their value. Crimson were always a band for a hot date. From time to time they could write a love letter, too, but for me they were better in the clinches.”  (Robert Fripp)

In advance of King Crimson’s upcoming US tour (starting June 11 in Seattle), Discipline Global Mobile has released Heroes, a low-priced live EP of recordings from last fall’s European excursion.  Blending the best of Fripp’s two worlds, it shows the Seven-Headed Beast that was 2016’s Crimson in fine fettle and ready for the clinches.

Continue reading “King Crimson, Heroes” →

Unleash the Archers delivers superb concept album Apex @UnleashArchers @BrittneyPotPie

On By Time LordIn Progressive rock1 Comment

archersalbummarch

The new album from Unleash the Archers, Apex, is truly impressive. But you already know that if you have read my review or listened to it for yourself.

Yet what I left out of my review was an explanation of the concept album’s full story extending from the first track to the last track. In that regard, the excellent review over at Angry Metal Guy is the best thing you can read, because it nicely details how the storyline unfolds and is perfectly realized in the music (which fits it like a glove).

If you’re a progger who needs an entry point through one song, try downloading just “False Walls” and listen to it again and again until you are hooked. I guarantee that you will find the excellence of the musicianship to be truly stunning.

Well, the whole album is that good. And the integrity of the epic storyline will have you thinking that this just might be the prog album of the year, because the whole album is in effect one gigantic epic song that deals in mythical archetypes. It’s so good that as you listen to it you can imagine it being realized cinematically as a full-length movie.

Follow me to Apex!

White Willow, Future Hopes

On By kruekuttIn art rock, Progressive rockLeave a comment

by Rick Krueger

The only White Willow album I’d heard before their new effort was 2011’s doomy Terminal Twilight.  Gorgeous, Gothic stuff, but it didn’t leap out at me as anything special.  Future Hopes, however, is a gripping album, unpretentious in presentation (Roger Dean cover notwithstanding) but wonderfully ambitious in scope and sonics.  It starts in darkness, then doggedly journeys toward the light — and it carried me along from beginning to end. Continue reading “White Willow, Future Hopes” →