Instrumental fans who love the fusion of cinematic/atmospheric rock and progressive metal now have another offering in this bond of genres: “Journey to the Stars” by Polish one-man act Widek. The brainchild of Maciej Dawidek, “Journey to the Stars” also features solo contributions by some of the genre’s top guitarists, such as Chris Letchford (Scale the Summit), Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry), Sithu Aye and Plini.
While “Journey to the Stars” is unquestionably a metal album, it’s definitely not an extreme metal record. Even without vocals (with the exception of the closing, bonus track “Ion”), it’s still entirely possible to create an extreme atmosphere through riffs and beats alone, but that’s not the direction Widek goes here for. Instead, this album is an extended experiment that blurs the lines of where metal begins and ends, taking the audience on a trip floating along through prog and atmospheric dreamscapes.
Widek works out his post-rock influences around the wall of melodiousness and prog metal riffwork. Perhaps the best possible description one can describe “Journey to the Stars“is that it sounds like a prog metal soundtrack. If Hans Zimmer was a metal fan, I guess that one of his scores could sound like this. The spacey atmosphere that adorns this release is often broken through guitar solos that are played by guest contributors. The instrumentation on the album is top notch as expected, but some listeners may object that much of the album sounds similar, although that “issue” definitely fades out after a few listens. As an advocate of instrumental guitar-driven music, I claim that there are plenty of distinguishing features to be found on “Journey to the Stars.”
With a devoted fanbase and two strong releases under his belt, Widek already leaves indelible mark on the international scene and hints that greater things are to come in the future. “Journey to the Stars” is a strong candidate for one of the best releases of 2015, and it will certainly find its place among many year-end top lists.
Track listing:
1. Mira (feat. Chris Letchford)
2. Earthshine (feat. Plini)
3. Chara (feat. Gru)
4. Orion II (feat. Sithu Aye)
5. Nova
6. Space Horizon
7. Sirius
8. Parallax (feat. Owane)
9. Rana
10. Canis Majoris (feat. Per Nilsson)
11. Pillars of Creation
12. ION (feat. Ricky Davenport)
A week ago, I reported on the impressive concert antics of our local legends, Bend Sinister.
Since then, there has elsewhere appeared a fine review of the same night, but accompanied by a plethora of extremely well-executed, high-quality photographs that perfectly capture the joyful musical intensity of that hard-rocking evening.
Check out the review but soak in the photos, preferably while you put on a copy of Bend Sinister and listen to it as loud as you can…
Review of Vertica, The Haunted South (Radiant Records, 2014). Songs: Holding Smoke; Temperance; Ghost of Summer; Always; Obsidian; You’ve Been Warned; The Wind Has Teeth; Believing and Pretending; The Furthest Place; Open Water; Pearl; One Last Chance to Resurrect; Go North.
The band: Emily Brunson (Lead Vocals); Tyler Downey (Guitar, Vocals); Joshua Ruppert (Bass); James McCurley (Drums, Vocals, Piano). Producer and Engineer: Jerry Guidroz
Vertica’s first album, the very gothic (southern gothic, that is) THE HAUNTED SOUTH.
For quite a while in the 1990s, I thought pop couldn’t get much better than Sixpence None the Richer. The first album grabbed me, the second captivated me, and the third floored me. Absolutely floored me. I still think that third one (their 1997 self titled album) one of the best albums I’ve ever heard or probably ever will hear. It’s not at the level of Skylarking or Songs from the Big Chair, but it’s very, very close. Then, of course, came the fourth album, Divine Discontent. What a disappointment. Granted, it wasn’t the kind of disappointment I felt with Pure Reason Revolution’s Amor Vincit Omnia—which I discarded rather unceremoniously after only a few listens. What a piece of barnyard excrement that was. I’m honestly not sure how a band could fall so quickly and steeply.
Stop, Birzer! This isn’t an article about your personal rants or about the decline of PRR (though, The Dark Third is just so, so could—how could they fall apart so quickly. . . ).
Vertica’s four members.
Anyway, the purpose of this post is to praise a great (brilliant) new band. I’ve had a review copy of Vertica’s The Haunted South for a little over a month now. And, I’ve thought about writing this review ten to twenty times, at least. Today, I finally made myself write it. By made myself—I don’t want to suggest writing this is a burden. It’s not a burden in the least, though it is hard work. Why? The album is just so good, I owe it the very best review I can give it. The album is so good, writing a review of it somewhat intimidates me. On the good side. . . in the time I’ve had a copy of this album, I’ve listened to it at least thirty times. Probably once a day.
It’s not prog, but it is very fine pop-rock with lots of art and prog elements. If you could combine the best of Mazzy Star, Sixpence None the Richer, The Cranberries, and IZZ, you’d come very close to the excellence of this band. Some of it is folkish, some of it is simply poetic, some of it is gothic, some of it is pop, and some of it is very hard.
Yet, with nothing but excellence, The Haunted South all flows together.
There’s something distinctive about the voice of the lead vocalist, Emily Brunson. She does sound a bit like the lead singer of Sixpence, but without the coyishly girlish voice often employed on the poppier tunes of Sixpence. Brunson’s voice can be sweet, but it’s always utterly earnest and never saccharine. The lead songwriter, James McCurley, knows exactly how to write music to fit Brunson’s near perfect vocals as well. Anyway, no matter what style of music or genre Vertica is employing, Brunson’s vocals are so good and so distinctive, they essentially become the sound of the band.
This brings me to McCurley. This is a guy to watch over the next several years and even decades. He’s already proven his talent, now he will show us what a force he is. He can write music very well. I assume he’ll only get better. But, his greatest strength is his lyric writing. I’m always a sucker for great lyrics, and these are great lyrics. Poetic in a mysterious, haunting, fog-filled woods kind of way. Listening to this lyrics, I feel as though I’ve found a connection to the voice and soul of Flannery O’Conner, fifty years later.
If you order this CD, and you should, avoid the download. Not because the music isn’t wonderful—because it is—but because you owe it to yourself to own the booklet, complete with lyrics.
Oh, boy. Love finding new things. I’ll be following Vertica for years to come. And, the adventure has just begun.
To order (and you should; early and often), click either of these links.
A quasi/inadequate review of Dreadnaught, “Gettin’ Tight with Dreadnaught” (RedFez Records, 2015).
Birzer rating: Perfect.
For quite a while, I have had the privilege of listening to the New England band, Dreadnought. An imposing name for imposing music. To paraphrase one of my favorite movies, Spinal Tap, “it could get nun more prog.” Imagine Phish after each member of the band downed seven Red Bulls. Or, King Crimson, but more intense. Or, Dream Theater, though with more fusion and jazz. Then, add them all together, hit turbo, and you might come close to the beauty that is Dreadnaught, but probably not.
I was thrilled when I opened the mail this afternoon to find a demo copy of Dreadnaught’s new EP, “Gettin’ Tight With Dreadnaught.” True to form, the packaging is quintessential Dreadnaught. A cool car in the desert, with a couple trying to sleep (camp?) on top of it. The photo comes from sometime in the early 70s, and the photo has the feel of “antique,” the fading of colors from when we wore burgundy cords with paisley shirts, complete with a rabbit’s foot hanging from a belt loop. Ah, the 70s. . . .
Approaching their 20th anniversary, Dreadnaught is a three-member band.
Bob Lord, bass
Richard Habib, drums
Justin Walton, guitar
Ah, a power trio, you might be thinking? Geddy, Alex, and Neil? Well, yes . . . if Rush played almost nothing but La Villa Strangiato!
Lord, Habib, and Walton are simply stunning. Absolute masters of their instruments as well as their music. Three individuals beautifully becoming one. Though as progressive and as rock as one can imagine, Dreadnaught’s form of the music really comes close to jazz and fusion. This is music at its best. Well, actually, it’s art at its best.
Just a quick look at their resumes reveals how versatile each member of the band is. Bob Lord, especially, has an impressive career. He’s worked with everyone from Pete Townshend to Madeline Albright.
The new EP is everything a lover of prog (and especially Dreadnaught) would expect: expertise and weirdness all beautifully knitted into a whole.
The songs: Nervous Little Dog; The Badger; This Time Next Year; Knife Hits; Barefoot Kicker.
The first two feel like a really incredible version of King Crimson, while track three—This Time Next Year—has a more relaxed (it’s all relative) feel. Knife Hits is experimental (with some killer bass work) before becoming a somewhat normal (country/southern) rock song, and Barefoot Kicker is the longest song, a journey into psychedelic truth.
Honestly, I’m not in any real way doing justice to the intensity and goodness of this music. Trust me—“Gettin’ Tight With Dreadnaught” is a must own.
A SPARK IN THE AETHER: THE MUSIC THAT DIED ALONE, VOLUMETWO THE TANGENT Inside Out U.S. (21 April 2015) Band: Andy Tillison: keyboards & vocals Luke Machin: guitar Jonas Reingold: bass Theo Travis: saxes & flutes Morgan Agren: drums
The rave reviews are starting to come in. And yes, there’s no real reason of worth or merit that gives me leave to review THE TANGENT’s new album (or any album for that matter). I have zero musical aptitude myself. I can’t “carry a tune,” play an instrument, or really understand rhythm, melody, or much else. I have a blog only because any albino three-toed sloth can have a blog. I post these “reviews” (air quotes, real quotes, ontological & metaphysical quotes) because they’re fun to write and my California best-friend enjoys them (or says he does).
But if I ever wanted, truly wanted, to review an album—
Lest I lose all credibility with my “out-of-the-banks” rave review of A SPARK IN THE AETHER (see prior post) I should say–I haven’t heard all that much of THE TANGENT. The only other album I’ve heard from start to finish is COMM (also brilliant). So admittedly I’m a bit new to Andy Tillison and his genius band (thanks primarily to Progarchy and Dr. B) and had not a large corpus to compare it to. I have a feeling I’m in for a real treat in the weeks ahead as my 2015 CD buying progresses.
In the meantime I was delighted to find a 3 hour podcast featuring THE TANGENT over at Wilf’s(David Elliott) cool podcast, The European Perspective (episode #200 from 4-4-15), hosted by THE DIVIDING LINE.
What a smorgasbord of supernal sounds! Check it out.
Saturday night, I had the awesome opportunity to see Haken, along with the brand new band Next to None, as well as Tiles and Imminent Sonic Destruction. It was a busy night, to be certain. While you may be familiar with Haken, you may not have yet heard of Next to None. Well, get prepared to be amazed. This band is made up of 16 and 17 year olds, with Max Portnoy as their drummer. And, yes, this is the incredibly talented son of Mike Portnoy, who is accompanying the young rockers on their very first tour. You are probably already guessing how awesome a show this must have been.
Tiles with Mike Portnoy
Taking place at the Token Lounge, a very small venue that has been around since the early 70s, in Westland, MI, the show opened with the Detroit native band, Tiles. I am not very familiar with the band, but I have heard some of their music. I must say, after hearing them live, I will definitely need to investigate them further. Their vocalist, Paul Rarick, astounded me with his range and style. All of the musicians were fantastic, and they got the show off to a fast start. The highlight of their set, however, came when they invited Mike Portnoy onto the stage to play none other than Rush’s “Spirit of Radio.” Oh. My. Gosh. Portnoy’s drums were indistinguishable from Neal Peart’s, and Rarick sounded, I kid you not, exactly like Geddy Lee. It was incredible!
Imminent Sonic Destruction
After a short break, Imminent Sonic Destruction played a set. I had never heard of this band before, but they showed impressive skill. It seemed to be a cross between straight up metal, metal core, and prog metal. The singer had a great voice, but he was also fully capable of belting out screams common in more mainstream metal. These guys were clearly enjoying themselves, and they did a great job of warming up the crowd before Next to None and Haken.
I will admit, I was really excited to see Next to None. My first exposure to Max Portnoy came from a video on Mike Portnoy’s YouTube channel of the two of them playing the drum part from Avenged Sevenfold’s song, “Nightmare.” In the video, Max keeps up with his dad perfectly, and he was only 11 at the time. Very impressive, to say the least. When I heard that Max and his friends, Thomas Cucé, Ryland Holland, and Kris Rank, formed a band and recently announced an album coming out through Inside Out Records, I was intrigued, to say the least. After viewing some of their music videos online and listening to one of their released songs, I couldn’t wait to see them live.
MP introducing Next to None
When they came onto the stage, I detected about three seconds worth of nervousness before they ripped into it. After that, all bets were off. These guys have fantastic stage presence for their age. On top of that, their musicianship is outstanding! Max Portnoy definitely inherited his father’s chops, and the rest of the band play like musicians twice their age. Vocally, Thomas Cucé ranges from regular singing to full on metal screaming, and he does both exceptionally well. Keep in mind, this was also the band’s first performance of their first official tour. Amazing. These guys will go far in rock, and I believe they are the future of the genre. Way to go guys!
After several hours of awesome music, Haken finally emerged and played a two hour set! Holy crap. Before the show, I was only familiar with The Mountain and the Restoration EP. On my way out, I bought their first two albums. They played music from all of their albums, as well as the 20 minute “Crystallized” from Restoration. Songs such as “Cockroach King,” “Atlas Stone,” “Falling Back to Earth,” “Shapeshifter,” and the 20 minute encore, “Visions,” along with several other songs I am forgetting, were huge hits with the crowd. Everyone at the show was head-banging along to the music, and the band was certainly all in to what they were playing.
Haken
The single most amazing thing about Haken’s performance was the fact that they were playing minus a member – Richard Henshall, who for some reason was not able to make it to the show. I think Ross Jennings, their vocalist, said he was ill, and he really wanted to be there. Despite his absence, their live music managed to sound just like the albums. The crowd, which, to my pleasant surprise, was made up of a large majority of young people around my age, LOVED Haken. After they finished their last song, the crowd started chanting “HAKEN! HAKEN! HAKEN!” for several minutes until the band re-emerged to play their 20 minute encore, “Visions.”
I cannot say enough good things about Haken. They were absolutely fantastic, and their fans were awesome as well. This was my first truly metal concert, and I didn’t know what to expect. But, there were no mosh pits, no shoving, no fighting, or generally obnoxious behavior. Granted, it was a very small venue with only 200 people at the most, but still. It was an awesome experience, and I definitely look forward to seeing them again.
Max Portnoy and yours truly. I promise I was not drunk even though I look like it. That is just the look I get after standing for 5+ hours. Sadly, its not all that different from my normal look.
At the end of the show, I decided to wait around a few extra minutes to buy Haken’s first two albums (I already bought a t-shirt before the show) and see if any of the performers would come out to mingle. Sure enough, a few emerged. I got the chance to briefly meet and thank Ray Hearne, the drummer, and Charlie Griffiths, the guitarist, both of Haken. Both looked completely exhausted, but it was very nice of them to come out and talk to fans. I also spotted Max Portnoy wandering around, and I got my picture taken with him. He seems like a really nice guy, and I wish him and Next to None the best of success on their album and tour. I can’t imagine what it must be like to juggle high school with recording and touring. Props to them.
The one person I really really really wanted to meet was, of course, Mike Portnoy. Unfortunately, that did not happen, but Mike seemed like he wanted to stay out of the limelight. This was Max’s night, and Mike did a great job of emphasizing that by simply being there to support his son. Maybe I’ll catch you at the next show, Mike.
If you are anywhere near any of the venues of this tour, definitely go out and see them. I only paid $18 for my ticket, which was incredibly reasonable, considering we got hours of great music.
Premiere: View charity single promo as Steve teams up with Magenta, Big Big Train and Steven Wilson band members for Parkinson’s disease.
Magenta mastermind Rob Reed has launched a video to accompany Steve Hackett’s charity release of Spectral Mornings.
It was recorded to support Parkinson’s Society UK, featuring Reed and bandmate Christina Booth alongside Big Big Train’s David Longdon and Nick D’Virgilio plus Nick Beggs of Steven Wilson’s band.
Reed decided to cover Hackett’s 1979 solo album title track because he’d always admired the piece. He recently said: “I thought it would be amazing to re-record with the addition of lyrics.
“David wrote them and we did a demo, which sounded fantastic. I had the idea of a duet, so we asked Christina. Steve kindly agreed to play guitar on the track, which was wonderful.
“I really think we have been respectful to the original piece and hopefully brought something new to it as well.”
This new version of the song is absolutely superb!!!
Last night at the Hard Rock Vancouver there was a most excellent concert by the supremely talented Bend Sinister.
If you haven’t listened to this fine prog-indie band yet, be sure to grab one of their amazing albums, like Animals (2014) or Small Fame (2012).
The top-notch show featured a terrific selection of cuts from these jaw-dropping albums, plus some super-fun covers of Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice” and Queen’s “We Are the Champions” (and the band even doodled around with Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin” during sound check as they jokingly played along with the canned tunes piped in on the casino’s house music system).
As a special treat, they added an extra band member to play trumpet for the evening and to add her voice to the gratifyingly thick mix of vocal harmonies.
The band said they were currently working on new material to record. We can all look forward to their next release and the subsequent tour.
Recently they have been touring Canada, the US, and Europe in support of Animals. Check out the epic prog-length opening track from the Animals disc, “Best of You,” with which they closed last night’s show (before doing Queen as the encore).
Progarchy 