Issue 2024-062
Anciients — Beyond The Reach Of The Sun
From Vancouver come Anciients — described as a lying somewhere between an apocalyptic juggernaut and precise riffing, with echoes of High on Fire and Opeth in their veins, combining “fuck off huge chords with mind-altering riffage”. It sounds like an interesting album, so let's hope it reaches this high set bar.
My initial thoughts are that this is an odd one. Despite not sounding at all similar, at various points it strikes a resemblance to Yes, but if they were metal. The style of riffing and vocal delivery harks back to the likes of Roundabout, but souped up and injected with styling of Enslaved, jumping between atmospheric prog and blackened death. We journey through various areas, from straight up grooving death metal to complex prog, through spots of folk and psych rock. Even spots of doom and blues get sprinkled through here and there.
We have solos, intricate guitar work and ferocious drumming, all supported by some ever present and thick bass lines, while clean and harsh vocals weave in and out as required. We dip and dive through immensely heavy chugs and tremolos and double bass madness, into acoustic refrains and moody melodies.
Celestial Tyrant stands out for some incredible technicality and the epic harmony between Cook and MacInnes on the solos. The group are tight, the songwriting on point at the production is polished and neat.
Therein lies a slight issue, however. It occasionally sounds slightly too neat. It is difficult to describe, but it does lack a unique “punch” that I can't quite describe. It is still a very well-crafted album that just misses the mark. Some bits could be trimmed, with the largely well-rounded album occasionally having a bit too much meat to it.
However, I can still see this album featuring on many lists this year. For me? While it probably won't be in my top 5 for the year, I don't see it being further away than my top 10 either.
For fans of Opeth, Ne Obliviscaris and The Ocean.
Inner Prospekt — Unusual Movements
Alessandro Di Benedetti is quite the busy composer/musician. If not engaged with Mad Crayon, The Guildmaster, or The Samurai Of Prog, one is bound to see his name appear on a number of prog related projects. The recently released Bestiario II, a Rafael Pacha supervised album by The Circle Project, being one such example.
Besides these commitments, Di Benedetti since the beginning of 2014 gathers his own unrestricted musical ideas under the moniker of Inner Prospekt. Not counting the instrumental version of his highly enjoyable Canvas One and the freely available compilation albums FreeDem and One Of Each One, this with the inclusion of Unusual Movements so far amounts up to thirteen wonderful and fully AI-free efforts.
Supporting Di Benedetti (keyboards, samplers, percussion, vocals) in the creation of his exceptionally well-composed songs one this time finds Giuseppe Militello on saxophone and returning guitarists Federico Tetti, Carmine Capasso and Rafael Pacha. This short list of contributors is completed by Daniele Vitaloni and Marco Bernard, who each make a song appearance on bass and shuker bass respectively.
These names also play a role on Di Benedetti's upcoming Recipe For A Solid Glass Structure album. But for now let's focus on Unusual Movements. An album that in a recipe similar to Di Benedetti's Canvas trilogy (albums Canvas One, Canvas Two, and Canvas Three) offers a delightful collection of Samurai-related songs and newly crafted compositions that extensively captivate thanks to their tempting prog-unusual movements.
Starting the album is the first revisited Samurai tune The Bridge. Previously featured as prelude to White Skies on Omnibus 3 under the alternative title of White Skies Prologue, this newly arranged song as before exhibits an attractive fairytale charm. And as perfect album overture manages to effortlessly transport to a "once upon a time"-world thanks to stylish subdued interplay and orchestration complemented by lovely classical piano melodies and graceful guitar work.
In Di Benedetti's own take of Neverland, a song also presented on Marco Bernard's solo album The Boy Who Couldn't Grow Up as Never Never Land, and revisited in abbreviated form in the Bandcamp-only bonus Living like A Looner, this transportation takes a little bit more effort. For despite lush Rick Wakeman -like symphonic decorations and captivating movements that mesmerise through elegance of jazz and grandness of guitar, I personally never seem to fully land in Peter Pan's realm. Even when the song's adventurous nature converges into a jolly cheerful Canterbury "Lost Boys" bridge that recalls Argent and Greenslade.
Not that this matters much, because in exactly the same way as the Bernard version, overall this composition is a truly magnificent gift for the Genesis-loving symphonic prog enthusiast. Especially when Rafael Pacha starts to sprinkle his six-string fairy dust and elevates melodies to heavenly heights with a touching solo in which he proverbially plays Hackett to bits. Magic stuff!
Mantra, inspired by the 2020 pandemic, is an equally magical experience. Oscillating meticulously onwards with Canterbury rhythms that breathe a sense of otherworldly Grey Origin mystique, the gloomy atmospheres are at first relieved through sentiment of saxophone. After Di Benedetti's depressively assuring Ian Anderson-like vocal delivery, it offers peaceful enlightenment through a fusion of earthy percussion and jazz guitar by Tetti that closely resembles Santana. Passing time with a journey into symphonic territories akin to Genesis, while Di Benedetti's melancholic voice shortly shifts into those reminiscent of Martin Eden (Chandelier), this wholesomely calming composition finally comes full circle with a tranquillizing pendulum of intricate melodies that fully puts one's mind at ease.
A similar sort of appeasing effect takes place during Winter Day. Provided with genuine feelings of warmth and affection, aspects of security this song shares with Di Benedetti's exquisite Guildmaster composition Young Me, Old You, it is in this moving song Alessandro vulnerably lays bare his soul in the purest way imaginable. Together with a rippling touch of Genesis and delicate melodies as if performed by a small chamber orchestra, it makes one completely forget about time.
Something that Di Benedetti himself in the sophisticated jazzy nightclub experience of Just Five Minutes does. Over seven minutes of astonishingly exultant refinement, here assisted by Pacha's graceful Pat Metheny guitar play and Militello's sensual sultry sax that massages impressions of Jessica Rabbit into view.
In Around The Corner a personally introspective Di Benedetti, returns to full-on symphonic prog mode. Shifting kaleidoscopically through emotions and moods tainted by darkness and light on a whole, this album pinnacle starts off small and intimate, followed by beautiful gossamer symphonic build-up flow into a classical piano interlude. The song goes on floating into a jazzy passage in Tony Banks style, and streams onto a heavenly exalting movement of dreamy guitar and keyboard melodies. This takes me back to a time when I was on board a cruise ship and sailed the Caribbean seas. Provoked images of an umbrellaed cocktail, swimming trunks, blinding rays of sunlight and pool refreshments included. Once the song drifts onto its imaginable concluding safe haven it is Tetti's final majestic solo that readily convinces me to have multiple goes at this marvellous and meticulously construed composition.
This urge of revisitation also majorly applies to The Question. A composition which hears a reflective Di Benedetti compositionally excel in emotively touching melodies and melancholy one final time. Twinkling with melodic Genesis grace while simultaneously memories of Camel and O.A.K come into view. It's especially Carmine Capasso's stellar out-of-this-world, clear-cut Hackett-saluting guitar solo that impresses the most in this brilliant Genesis-surpassing composition.
After all this, my final words are to say that I'm deeply impressed with Di Benedetti's Unusual Movements. As an album of exceptional beauty it is once again a wonderful showcase of Di Bendetti's craftsmanship as a composer, arranger and musician. And producer I must add, because with depth of sound it all sounds amazing. And as my favourite Inner Prospekt album so far, I look forward to his next venture with high anticipating pleasure.
If checking out for beautiful sweeping symphonic prog is part of your usual activity, don't miss out on this one! Highly recommended!
Long Earth — An Ordinary Life
It is no secret that I live and breathe Scottish prog, that most under-rated and unjustly neglected genre (geographically defined and comprising such superbly talented musicians as the members of Pallas, Comedy Of Errors, Grand Tour, Abel Ganz and Glen Brielle), so barring a spectacular misfire, I was always going to celebrate a new release by Long Earth. In the accompanying booklet, they describe their third album, An Ordinary Life, as "a three-act play", as indicated by the numbering of the trilogy of songs entitled Life. This provides both its conceptual framework and unifying theme. The subject may appear banal, but Long Earth succeed in revealing the inherent beauty of ordinary existence. It reminds me of Austrian author, Adalbert Stifter, and his "gentle law", according to which the less spectacular and barely heeded phenomena such as the rustling of leaves in the breeze, the shimmering of the stars and the return of green shoots in the spring are of greater significance than lightning splitting the heavens or fire-spewing volcanoes. By analogy, a life quietly and modestly lived with decency, simplicity and a sense of wonder at beauty is what holds the fabric of humanity together where wars and upheavals threaten to tear it irrevocably apart.
The meticulous attention to detail is one of the aspects which sets An Ordinary Life apart, from the packaging and booklet to the sumptuous production values which reveal the richly textured soundscapes to superlative effect. The booklet contains appealing artwork summarising the theme of each individual track. For example the illustration for Shadows, lamenting lost love, hoping against hope and all reason that it might be revived and recaptured, is of two wedding rings and a padlock, routinely fixed to bridges to symbolise an eternal bond, sinking discarded to the bottom of a riverbed.
The current line-up comprises Mike Baxter (piano, synthesisers and Hammond C3), a veritable veteran of the Glasgow music scene, having played in bands such as Shoot The Moon, Glas Clas and Identity Crisis; Martin Haggarty (vocals, backing vocals), whose credentials include a stint with Abel Ganz, Masque and Field Of Vision (more of which below); Renaldo McKim (electric, acoustic and ambient guitars); David McLachlan (bass guitar); and Alex Smith (drums, triangle).
The album opens with one of two explicitly political songs, Fight The Hand That Bleeds You, offering a trenchant and deservedly scathing critique of those who cynically exploit our fears and seek to divide us for their own corrupt gain:
Monarchy, democracy, religious ideology
It's just the same old rhetoric, disguised as realpolitik
Politicians ask for votes, they say your interests they'll promote
They threaten peace and buy us war
We don't know what we're fighting for
This is a glorious, keyboard-heavy prog epic, resplendent with Long Earth's signature sound characterised by multiple layers of densely complex (yet always satisfyingly accessible) instrumentation combining to polished perfection, effortlessly changing register from the wistful to the dynamically propulsive, as the shifting moods of each song demand. This is neo-prog (and I use that term with no hint of the disdain it has been freighted with: it is my favourite sub-genre of prog by far) at its finest, with an occasional hint of IQ, particularly in the latter half of Shadows.
Its companion piece, Moscow, prompted a foray into Scottish prog history, as it first appeared on cassette as a single released in 1989 under the title How Are Things In Moscow Anyway? by Field Of Vision (Martin and keyboard player Graham Holley). In common with many readers of a certain age, I have vivid memories of the heady days of optimism following the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the spectre of total nuclear annihilation finally banished, the Damoclean sword lifted. The lyrics have been updated to reflect the perilous juncture at which we once again find ourselves thanks to the egomania of a madman with seemingly limitless power. Ironically, Long Earth's version answers the question implicit in the original song, where the narrator pondered whether things had really changed in Moscow underneath the surface. The sound of sirens dramatically summons the visceral fear of war and its apocalyptic horrors.
Sand examines the ineffable agony of time's ravages, with a hint of rage against the dying of the light vividly expressed through Renaldo McKim's emotionally astute, nuanced yet impassioned guitar work. There is an achingly poignant line about the inexorable and relentless passage of time, how it mysteriously accelerates as we grow older, and its callous indifference towards our mortality: "They say that time can heal all wounds, but what can wound you more than time?"
This track was also originally written by Field Of Vision, appearing in November 2014 on their EP The Vicissitudes Of Life. As did Shadows. Both fit seamlessly into An Ordinary Life, musically and in terms of the subject, and their full potential is finally revealed in Long Earth's sensitive reimagining.
However, for me Morpheus is the standout track on the album, as it encapsulates everything I love about Long Earth's music: a hauntingly beautiful melody which immediately embeds itself in the listener's mind, Martin's exquisite vocals, exuding emotional depth and power. It is soothingly hypnotic, as it meanders languidly with the dreamlike quality so perfectly matched with its theme. I could happily drift off into oblivion to its gorgeously ethereal and melancholy strains.
We live in a society geared towards the denial of our own transitory nature, and reminders of our impermanence can be uncomfortable. How much worse, however, to look back with bitter regret? Far better to pay heed to the message of An Ordinary Life, easily the best album of 2024 so far: "So live your life, it's the only one you get."
Brendan Perkins — Favourite Places
Having had considerable success in selecting what turned out to be better albums (from unknown artists) than I expected, I was obviously drawn to the latest album by Brendan Perkins who apparently has been involved within the music industry for many years. Apart from the brief amount of promo info I was supplied, I could not find any mention of Brendan on RateYourMusic. This is somewhat strange for an artist who has released what I believe is over two dozen albums since 2008. This really begs the question as to how a musician can remain so unknown for so long. Are people just not listening to new artists or their music?
To quote some supplied promo material, Brendan is a progressive rock composer and multi-instrumentalist who plays bass, electric & acoustic guitars, drums, keyboards, uke, mandolin, and various percussive instruments. He has a first class BA degree in Creative Music and over four decades of recording and sound engineering experience. Progressive rock influences provide him with a perfect mix of virtuosity and emotional composition.
His latest album explores a number of favourite haunts that Brendan discovered many years ago including Lincolnshire Wolds, Polzeath in Cornwall, Caistor and Saltburn-by-the-sea. To quote Brendan again, "I needed to do this for my own peace of mind, with a view that others may find a calming escape through listening too. One way of doing this was reminiscing about some of the wonderful places in England that we'd been to."
Being a solo artist, responsible for all music and the instruments used, has allowed Brendan to express his views and images of the world and his attendant experiences on a very personal level. This is very much a sombre and reflective view of the world today and is told in a convincing way via reminiscing over places that had significant meaning in his earlier life.
The songs possess a rather mellow and pensive approach and are very easy to savour. Nothing is too boisterous or challenging and is the ideal type of album to play under headphones when you need to unwind with music that does not confuse the listener. It is an album that is very easy to slip into and forget life's troubles, whatever they may be.
Each song, while possessing a similar style and tempo, may sound a little repetitive, the actual music itself is quite absorbing and has that replayability factor that we all crave. The ethereal lead guitar breaks that proliferate throughout the majority of the songs are very emotionally charged and melodic and form the overall allure of a peaceful and absorbing album. Think Pink Floyd, RPWL, Rick Miller, and Chris (a.k.a. Christiaan Bruin, of the band Sky Architect).
As enjoyable as most of the songs are, I found myself hoping for a major shift in tempo but for the majority of the playing time, this was only apparent in short bursts, here and there. This is a slight set back as I often equate extra variety with increased levels of enjoyment. However, it is the brilliant and soaring lead guitar that escorts you to heaven and back on so many occasions that will lift your spirits. At times, Brendan breaks new ground and explores more anthemic approaches which work really well. A Song For Friends typifies this style perfectly and is rather a standout track on the album.
The overall sound is one of a pastoral nature and is full of lush, symphonic textures that are very easy on the ears. After 5 spins I am becoming fully immersed and absorbed by the magic that slowly unfolds and feel the global ignorance of this man's music is a serious tragedy as he certainly knows how to compose some delightfully, melodic and soothing symphonic music that touches the senses on a surreal level. The spatial buzz you can enjoy under decent headphones is also a real bonus and makes their use a mandatory inclusion for music of this nature. Well done Brendan!
Solar Project — Pictures At An Exhibition
The band Solar Project from Germany has been around for several years. Volker Janacek, Peter Terhoeven and Robert Valet founded Solar Project in 1988. Before that from 1981 until the founding of Solar Project they were the core of a band called Solar System. I have not heard from this band before but Pictures At An Exhibition is already album number fifteen. Many guest musicians perform on one or more songs on their albums and slowly some musicians remained as a full member of Solar Project. In 2019 Volker Janacek left Solar Project and was replaced by drummer Florian Schlott. Other steady members of the Solar Project are Holger vom Bruch (vocals), Sandra Baetzel (vocals and saxophone) and Sebastian Jungermann (bass).
While doing some research for this review I kind of lost track with this band. On DPRP we have a review of Chromagnitude, A Tribute To Pink Floyd and Here I Am. In the Chromagnitude review, Pink Floyd influences are mentioned, and they released a Pink Floyd tribute album, so I thought I would be hearing a lot of Pink Floyd sounds. On this new album Pictures At An Exhibition I do hear some Pink Floyd in the guitar playing of Peter Terhoeven, but this band is certainly not a Pink Floyd copycat. If I listen to the earlier albums this Pink Floyd influence is much more present. In the Here I Am DPRP review it is stated by the reviewer that new vocalist Holger did not really impress. Pictures At An Exhibition is mostly instrumental and although Holger is mentioned I can see only five people painted on the album cover. Also when listening to this new album and listening to some of their older albums I really get confused, is this the same band? The music is very different. For the sake of the review I will just focus on this new release.
As I said, Pictures At An Exhibition is mostly an instrumental album, filled with melodies by guitar, keyboard and/or saxophone. Lovely melodies are alternated with some frantic outbursts of experimental parts but never really out of control. During the (funny) keyboard tunes I can hear some Beardfish influences. The guideline throughout the album is formed by the small Promenade parts, five of them spread out on the album. After the first one, The Gnome starts with some very strange keyboard tunes. A lot of strange parts and funny ditties in this track. The Gnome itself has some uptempo music that slows down on Promenade (Part 2) and slows even more on The Old Castle. A sad sounding song with a lot of guitar both acoustic and electric. Small interlude with Promenade (Part 3) and then the strange ditties from The Gnome continue.
Tuileries has more Beardfish influences. Cattle is slow and sad, full of hypnotizing melodies. Ballet Of Unhatched Chicks brings more frantic melodies, as does The Hut On The Hen's Legs. On Samuel Goldberg And Schmuyle, a slow song, there is room for some saxophone melodies. A more psychedelic sound in Limoges. The Market. Bogatyr Gates is more of a combination and the sum of all songs above. The album alternates quite a bit!
For a diverse album, it is surprisingly balanced, never boring, never really over the top or stretching stuff too much. A very enjoyable spin every time.
At about 33 minutes we have the official end of the album. I do not know which edition has the bonus track but the one sent to me has The Swan Song at the end. A bit strange to have a bonus track of 14 minutes after a 33 minutes album, cutting it in smaller pieces would have made it look more like it was part of the album. It stands out more than it should. The Swan Song is a nice track but with the kind of music that is on Pictures At An Exhibition, mostly instrumental and a psychedelic/funny approach, the 33 minutes is at a perfect length to consume. I enjoyed it that way a lot more and have played it many times that was as well.
Yomi Ship — Feast Eternal
Feast Eternal, the full-length debut from the Perth, Australia based Yomi Ship, is a psychedelic voyage to the Japanese underworld on a craft built around guitar riffs and fantastic rhythm work, along with some well done soundscapes. An homage to both the rich psych vein in Japan, and more math-rock bands like The Mars Volta, Feast Eternal is an instrumental concept record based on themes of transitioning from our living world to the land beyond. In Yomi, the Japanese underworld, "spirits linger after partaking in the feast of Yomi's hearth, unable to return to the land they came from," as the band says. Very literary stuff, for an instrumental record.
Yomi Ship are a trio of musicians (Jarred Osborne on guitar, Jade Champion on bass, and Nick Osborne on drums) who have obviously done their homework, both in the lore and in the music. This is a band that is not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves. Working between math rock and more classic prog, sometimes in the same track (like Of Argartha), there remains a chord running through each song tying the different pieces together. The entire album works as a journey - a true musical story - that you can feel as you go along.
Yomi Ship, promo photo
Besides the overall trio work, which is really outstanding, there is a very good use of synths, samples, and other pieces of soundscape that add a layer of texture to the record. Yomi Ship is very good about using this when it is needed and allowing the music to be more simple where it can be. There can be a tendency on some records to want to fill every space, but here we get what we need, without any distractions.
Prog is also the genre most likely to have me open ten different Wikipedia tabs to figure out the story's background and that is definitely the case here. As I was learning something of Yomi, Ronin, Oni, and the other characters that inhabit the world of Feast Eternal, I came away with a better understanding of the work as a whole. There are stories within each song, such as the one of Oni, a mythological evil man who transforms into a demon upon death. The song takes us along the path with our own Oni. A great song on its own, finding myself digging a bit deeper made for an even richer experience.
Out now on Bird's Robe, Feast Eternal by Yomi Ship is a very good debut record, one that I recommend you float along with — just remember to return to your living realm.