For the first of my ridiculous backlog of albums to review, I bring you a review of Echo Us’ album from the beginning of the year, Inland Empire. You may remember the band from past Progarchy reviews: James Turner’s review of 2014’s XII A Priori Memoriae and my review of 2021’s The Windsong Spires.

My review of Inland Empire begins similarly to my review of their last record: eclectic, atmospheric, ethereal. Waves of guitar, claps of percussion, strangely spacey vocals. While not a typical rock album, much like The Windsong Spires wasn’t, it does incorporate rock and certainly progressive elements. Electric guitars and clever percussion, along with aptly placed synths, create a wall of sound that draws from myriad musical influences. New age? Rock? Certainly ambient, yet it retains enough melody to keep the album engaging.

The atmospheric elements occasionally take on a Floydian edge. “Echo Us” has some spacey yet rock-hardened tones before introducing some spoken word fragments, much in the way Pink Floyd did on The Wall. The second half of “Dark Shock” features more Floydian atmospherics, with some particularly enjoyable guitar work.

Some elements of the guitar remind me a bit of Big Big Train, as well, which was a bit of a surprise. But overall, their sound is still more atmospheric than traditional prog. The album flows together almost too well, making most of the songs sound a bit the same. Since the music is contemplative and rather ambient, it’s more palatable even if there’s not much variety. The vocals aren’t a strong point, but they’re heavily filtered with various effects, adding a synth-like quality to them which helps them recede into the ambient wall of sound.

Overall “Inland Empire” is a worthy successor to 2021’s “The Windsong Spires.”