Issue 2024-095
Feras Arrabi — The Grind
Feras Arrabi picked up a guitar at 13, and fell in love. A love of rock and metal helped grow his music dreams, and this joined up with a fascination of virtuoso guitarists to create him as he stands now. Here The Grind is the story of "A musical protagonist who grinds his way with his intelligent guitar axe which powers up by collecting different elements, to ultimately fight the disgusting boss who's grown big and gone bad, and old. Along the way, he solves riddles and meets creatures of the world he's in, that are also annoyed by the presence of the bad boss."
Playful, videogame-style music leads us and matches the retro artwork that invokes memories of Sega and Nintendo in their earlier days. A midi bass tone and electronic drums adds a nice touch of nostalgia, as do the synths. A bit of fusion goes through, with some sprinklings of jazz and the aforementioned “virtuoso” style leads and patterns. Solos are spread throughout to highlight tense and exciting moments in the hero's journey. Drums and bass are all computerised which adds to the retro vibe and pixelated memories.
At the end of it, it isn't a bad EP. It focuses on minimalistic electronic backgrounds and repetitive passages, sounding like a love letter to Sonic or old school JRPGs. It is well played, recorded and produced. But for my tastes, it feels a bit “thin” and lacks a full punch of something special. If paired with a game or even comic/cartoon following the narrative it would probably be better. But without this I feel it comes across as half of a package.
If you're a fan of the likes of Powerglove, Yngwie Malmsteen or Guthrie Goven then this could be up your street.
Beledo — Flotando en el vacio
If you are missing the warmth of summer and maybe even the red veined colours and the shape-shifting patterns of an Andalusian sunset evening, then Flotando en el vacio may help to rekindle sun captured thoughts of when the days were longer and the butterflies were fluttering.
In Flotando en el vacio, Beledo has created an album that evokes such memories and so much more. Its eight tunes have a definite feel-good ambience where gorgeous flute lines, rich fluid bass tones, evocative guitar passages and sumptuous keyboard embellishments all have an important role to play.
It is an album that proclaims its Flamenco, Latin American and South American influences in almost every piece. However, it is a release that from time to time also recalls some of the great fusion artists and bands of the past such as Chick Corea, Return To Forever, Weather Report and Allan Holdsworth.
I thoroughly enjoyed Beledo's last album. Flotando en el vacio is equally satisfying, but it is stylistically vastly different. It is also arguably more restrained and more measured. Without doubt, it offers a different set of colours and tones. This is not surprising, as Beledo gathered a set of new musicians around him to create Flotando en el vacio to interpret his work.
The flute of Jorge Pardo is the principal and prominent instrument of much of the release. The magnificent bass playing of Carles Benavent offers great support. It provides a melodic colourful low-end contrast to the ethereal tones and striking timbres of Pardo's virtuoso flute playing. Asaf Sirkis fills in any gaps and pauses in the music with the skillful use of his kit. His contribution is excellent, it brings an extra layer of subtlety to the reflective interludes and helps to move things along skilfully and at pace when needed. Gary Husband makes an important contribution in three improvised pieces. During De tardecita, Es prohibeix blasfemar and Rodeados, Husband's elegant playing and great use of pitch and tone, is used to great effect.
The album begins in a sumptuous fashion with an interpretation of a traditional Balkan tune. Djelem Djelem sets the bar high for what is to follow. Its rich layers and textures features Beledo playing acoustic flamenco guitar in a sublime manner in the background. However, it is the beautifully evocative trilling and sustained notes of Pardo's flute that is probably the most memorable aspect of the piece. Beledo's violin playing towards the end of the piece also offers an equally favourable impression.
Beledo is a talented musician and a gifted composer. He is responsible for a moving piano interlude during the delightful Rauleando that simply swings and flows. However, his beautifully executed laid back guitar solo full of bendy notes and a delicious tone, touches the senses just as much. Rauleando is a great ensemble piece and its tango roots ensures that everything about the tune leaves a satisfying taste. It is also notable for an impressive bass interlude.
From Within features some fine interplay between the flute and guitar. It's one of my favourite pieces on the album. Everything about it works well, and it is a masterclass of how musicians can blend when they listen carefully to each other. Consequently, it has an impulsive yet structured feel . The piece It has many standout points. For example, Beledo's guitar tone and approach draws upon some of the style that is usually associated with Allan Holdsworth.
Although, I probably prefer the composed tunes, the three improvised pieces work well in the context of the album. De tardecita is probably the most impressive of these. It is one of the few tunes where Beledo plays his guitar in a less restrained and visceral fashion. It stretches out nicely and has some strident jazz lines. These contrast with spiralling guitar bursts and rumbling moog effects. The whole thing journeys purposefully with flute and moog interplay. Subtle guitar embellishments fill the gaps and a plethora of biting guitar lines give it a raw appeal.
I felt that Es prohibeix blasfemar did not work as well, despite having many interesting highlights during its eight-minute duration. Rodeados is a lengthy piece where Pardo's playing is particularly masterful. It is also characterised by some excellent ensemble playing and its length helps the players to be inventive exploring many different paths along the way.
Flotando en el vacio is an excellent album, but there were times when it all seemed slightly too polite and perhaps needed a tad more aggression. This would have altered the overall essence and flavour of the album. With that in mind, this release without doubt, successfully achieves the sort of ambience that Beledo intended.
The playing is superb and it makes the album a joy to experience. Each track, composed or otherwise, exudes an enjoyable air of spontaneity. Alongside the fine tunes, and the wonderful sound quality of the album ; it is probably the quality of the musicianship and the organic nature of the music, more than anything else, which makes this release such a satisfying experience.
Flotando en el vacio certainly warmed my winter evenings, with its soothing melodies and ochre sunset tints of summers to come.
Leprous — Melodies Of Atonement
Leprous are back with another fine album. Back in 2011 I started listening to this Norwegian band when they released Bilateral. Their progressive metal releases Coal and The Congregation I enjoyed a lot, and it was not just me. After these albums I kind of lost track of them, however. I remembered listening to Pitfalls but that one did not grab me as I expected. What usually happens then is I turn to the familiar old albums.
With this new album Melodies Of Atonement this is unlikely not happen.
The album opens with some techno noises. On first listen, I feared it was going to be a very poppy album. Compared to the heavy progressive metal albums, it might come across as poppy or electronic but there are the Leprous complexities. Leprous evolved away from the very heavy progressive metal sound of their early albums and the music on Melodies Of Atonement is a continuation of that evolving process. This album does not contain the heavy metal riffing with the typical stops and starts, but if you play this album to someone who is into lighter forms of music then they will for sure find it confusingly complex. Just the way we like it, I would say!
A DPRP review colleague used the term "earworm" in a review of an earlier Leprous album and that for sure is a good metaphor. It took me a while to get past the first few songs, but suddenly I noticed Silently Walking Alone and Atonement were settled in my head like an earworm.
My Specter is intriguing. It begins with some keyboard sounds and at first spin it appears not a lot is happening, but after some time you notice more and more, and it starts to hunt you. Haunt you, even. The same can be said for Like A Sunken Ship, though this song is more intense. With every spin a different song crawls under your skin and starts occupying space in your mind. And while it took a few spins for Silently Walking Alone and Atonement to grow on me, Limbo and Faceless have been living inside my mind from the start. The remainder of the album is waiting in line to start hunting me, which I know for sure will be a matter of time.
With Melodies Of Atonement Leprous have created a very fine release. This new album is a continuation of the evolution of their sound. For progressive metal fans there is still enough on this album to enjoy and enough complexity to sink your teeth in. I have been playing this album a lot. Another album for the best of 2024 list.
Ozul — Man On The Shore
Ozul is the solo project of Norwegian / Costa Rican filmmaker Paulo Chavarría, who is now based in Bergen, Norway. This follow up to 2023's Provenance (not reviewed on these pages) sees multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Paulo producing, mixing and mastering as well. For the keen eyed amongst you his name is not Norwegian but Costa Rican.
The concept album Man On The Shore is inspired by a real tragic event, much in the way that a tragedy inspired Steven Wilson's best album Hand Cannot Erase. Ozul has thought deeply about this topic, that of the discovery of an unknown man found dead on the fjord, who was buried as nomen nescio, that is, of name unknown. The album then imaginatively examines themes of struggle, parental alienation and tragedy of a character as he grapples to keep contact with his child after a divorce.
So lyrically, and sometimes musically, this album is often quite a dark but never a dour listen. The music here takes progressive rock and adds in darkwave electronica, keyboards that echo Depeche Mode amid plenty of heavy prog guitars (Porcupine Tree). Creating constantly changing soundscapes, often within the same song, in inventive arrangements of engaging melodies. All sung in lightly accented, emotionally resonant, English.
I'll look at one track, How Could I?, to give you some idea as to what the music is like throughout Man On The Shore. It opens with a piano and vocal melody, joined by programmed rhythmic pulse, echoed by the synths. The rhythm and melody develops in a Peter Gabriel world music inflected way. Picked electric guitar brings further colour before crashing metal riffs hammer away to the track's conclusion. The rest of the songs on the album see inventive variations on this template with additions of violin, xylophone and spoken word samples. All working to reinforce the cinematic atmosphere of the album.
Ozul's Man On the Shore is a finely honed collection of songs, all of which have minimal intros as if Paulo Chavarria has a burning need to tell this story with immediacy. It is an album that grows in stature if you listen to it repeatedly. Already looking forward to the next release from Ozul.
Stranger Vision — Faust - Act I - Prelude To Darkness
Stranger Vision are a prog-power metal band from Italy. They have so far released two albums (Poetica in 2021 and Wasteland a year later). They claim to be influenced by bands such as Savatage, Blind Guardian, Symphony X, and Dream Theater. This is my first encounter with them.
Faust. Act I: Prelude to Darkness is a concept album divided into two parts, inspired by Goethe's timeless masterpiece, Faust.
According to the band, the narrative "delves into the depths of the human soul, exploring the conflict between ambition and morality, and the relentless search for meaning". Part 1 consists of four instrumental interludes and eight songs. The intention is that each track reflects a different aspect of Faust's inner journey.
There is certainly some ambition to this work. The use of four different singers adds different characteristics to the sound, while keyboards and synths are employed to amplify the story's dramatic tension.
Frontman Ivan Adami has been singing in bands for 25 years, but surprisingly this is his first proper album as lead singer. He has a strong, gravelly texture to his voice and a lot of his characteristics remind me of Zak Stevens (Savatage). No bad thing.
The eight songs have a lot of power-metal tropes. However, as nothing really stretches beyond five minutes, songs like Strive and Look Into Your Eyes, whilst perfectly enjoyable, may be too one-dimensional, too generic for those seeking more progressive explorations.
One track does hold a flame to the prog-metal of the 80s/90s. Nothing Really Matters is a great track. It also features guest vocals from a certain James LaBrie.
The powerful riffing and soloing of Riccardo Toni is impressive and there are some memorable power metal melodies to be enjoyed here. For those seeking an aggressive bit of power metal with the odd progressive twist, all wrapped up in a thoughtful concept, then this is worth a listen.