Issue 2025-023
Jon Anderson & The Band Geeks — Live - Perpetual Change
CD 2: And You and I (10:11), Your Move / I've Seen All Good People (6:48), Gates of Delirium (22:37), Roundabout (8:42)
My very first assignment for the DPRP was a review of the Yes DVD Songs From Tsongas - 35th Anniversary Concert back in 2005. Jon Anderson was still fronting the classic line-up at the time so it's appropriate that to mark my 20th anniversary as a music scribe, I review his latest offering Live - Perpetual Change with The Band Geeks. But first, a nostalgic stroll down memory lane.
My introduction to Yes was way back in early 1971 when Radio Luxembourg DJ Kid Jenson played the opening song from their Time And A Word album. I was instantly hooked, and they soon became my favourite band and Anderson my favourite singer. During the 1970s, I saw them live on numerous occasions, indoors and outdoors, come rain or shine. They always delivered, performing their often complex but always melodic symphonic rock with style and precision. At the end of the decade, the unthinkable happened when Yes and Anderson parted company. He was back on board in 1983 and throughout the 1980s and 1990s, despite various changes in personnel, Yes – and temporary rivals Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe – gave some of their finest live performances.
Following the 35th anniversary tour, the early part of the 21st century was a relatively quiet period for Yes before going back out on the road in 2009. Sadly, due to ill health, Anderson was unable to participate, and he was replaced by Benoît David and in 2012, by Jon Davison, both chosen for their ability to replicate his high vocal tone. In 2010, Anderson teamed up with fellow Yes veterans Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin, but despite extensive touring, a highly anticipated studio album failed to materialise.
Anderson's solo career had begun back in 1976 with the incomparable Olias of Sunhillow album and on stage, Yes songs have remained an integral part of his shows. He has experimented with a variety of backing musicians including a 1993 tour of South America performing Yes songs with indigenous musicians and instruments. He has also enjoyed successful collaborations, most notably with Vangelis in the 1980s and Jean-Luc Ponty in the 2010s. As such, this release, and the recent - and excellent - studio album True, maintain his credibility as a solo artist while at the same time, preserving his Yes legacy.
Live - Perpetual Change was filmed and recorded in Illinois, USA at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles on 12 May 2023 and the Des Plaines Theatre on 13 May. It was Anderson's first tour with The Band Geeks, a professional ensemble, performing Yes' past glories with breathtaking skill and accuracy. On the DVD, Anderson is clearly enjoying their company, resplendent in his Tales From Topographic Oceans t-shirt. Ironically, there are no extracts from the 1973 album in the show, despite the 125-minute setlist being devoted to the 1970s. It's worth noting that Anderson wrote, or co-wrote, every song performed here.
Unsurprisingly, The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge albums are well represented, along with contributions from Relayer and Going for the One. There's a welcome sprinkling of Yes epics with Close to the Edge, Awaken and The Gates of Delirium performed in their entirety, although in the latter case, the definite article is absent from the title on the cover. Anderson is in fine voice throughout, effortlessly reaching those high notes, which is some achievement given that he celebrated his eightieth birthday in October 2024. He's ably supported by The Band Geeks' vocal harmonies which are especially effective during the heavenly I Get Up, I Get Down section of Close to the Edge.
The set opens with Yours Is No Disgrace and Perpetual Change, the songs that bookended The Yes Album. They both rock hard thanks to the powerful rhythm partnership of bassist Richie Castellano and drummer Andy Ascolese. Close to the Edge is a studio creation that even Yes themselves had to work hard to reproduce on stage and here, Anderson and The Band Geeks deliver a very worthy performance. Heart of the Sunrise and the perennial Starship Trooper are equally accomplished with the guitar and synth sparring during Wurm recalling Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman in their prime. And speaking of the blonde keyboardist, Awaken is one of his favourites and I'm sure he would approve of the stunning performance here. In addition to his harp playing in Awaken, elsewhere Anderson provides percussion and rhythm guitar during the instrumental parts.
Opening the second CD, And You and I remains faithful to the studio version with an acoustic guitar intro. Electric guitarist Andy Graziano replicates Howe's majestic pedal steel flights to perfection and when he isn't singing, Anderson still waves his arms as if conducting an orchestra. Wakeman will no doubt take comfort from the fact that his original parts are shared between two keyboardists - Robert Kipp and Chris Clark. For And You and I and Your Move, they are joined on stage by Rob Schmoll on 12-string acoustic guitar. The vocal harmonies are once again in evidence during Your Move and following a rousing All Good People, The Gates of Delirium tests Anderson's vocal cords, and The Band Geeks' musicianship, to the limits. A magnificent Soon features another stunning performance from Graziano, leaving the crowd pleasing Roundabout to bring the show to a triumphant conclusion.
Although a native of Lancashire in the UK, it's been almost twelve years since Anderson toured outside North and South American. For fans in other regions, this excellent live package is the next best thing. In interviews, Anderson has stated that spiritually he has always remained part of Yes and many devoted fans have prayed that one day the founding member would return to the fold. To paraphrase an old saying, you can take the man out of Yes, but you can't take Yes out of the man. Just ask Rick Wakeman.
Dessiderium — Keys to the Palace
Dessiderium is the solo project of Alex Haddad from the United States. On this album (also featuring Brody Taylor Smith on drums and piano solos from Thomas Leroy Meier), he has described it as being over 10 years since he started, with a lot of it predating his previous 2 albums, and goes on to say, "This is an album about time travel that explores the polarity between past and future, innocence and disillusion, faith and despair, and adolescence and adulthood." Strong words, can this fusion of melody and death metal reach those heights, and the bar set so high?
We start with In the Midst of May. Let loose from the start, heavy chugs and relentless drums are backed up by harsh vocals. Smith does a fantastic job with keeping the rhythm driving on as the syncopated riffs push forward alongside cleaner, melodic vocals. Dover Hendrix soon follows, even more aggressively than the opener, but more melodic at the same time. Here we have a prime example of technical and melodic death metal. Every minute is an intricate web of complex yet harmonious riffs and rhythms, layered with solos and growls or cleans that never let up.
Side 1 closes out with A Polled for the Bees. While still a web of fast fretwork, this one begins a lot calmer, with gentler passages and clean vocals for the first minute (although, still undeniably prog metal). Shortly after, the harsh vocals come back in, in an almost power-meets-black metal vibe. It is a fantastic showcase of Haddad's songwriting abilities.
Side 2 begins with the shortest track, A Dream That Wants Me Dead. Strings and choral “ahhs” gently lead us into a post-metal track replete with melancholic sensibilities. A calmer and emotional, but no less impactful, number that brings us to into Magenta, the penultimate track. Another one that crosses into the realms of a bit of post-metal, with almost some hints of blackgaze (albeit it with harsher vocals) in it. It is both intense, yet somber at the same time, which only grows towards the ending.
Keys to the Place closes the album, and at 16 minutes in length, it is an ambitious one. The first while is taken up by a sweeping lick that slowly speeds up and builds as the layers of instrumentation grow with each other. The second half flows between grooving riffs, Haddad's vocal work and heavy chugs as it rises through dark tones to more “epic” leads. A true culmination of everything that preceded it.
Well, in short – the album did indeed reach the heights it promised. It is a cinematic blend of raw and aggressive death metal, mixed with the powerful passages that are the hallmark of melodic power metal, along with the intricacy of prog rock that harkens back to the early days of groups like ELP and Yes
I'd suggest this to fans of Ne Obliviscarus, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Persefone, Gorod and Yes. Basically, fans of melody and harmonies, who also like chaotic (yet structured) death metal.
The Grand Sheep — Nightwatch
Hailing from Aschaffenburg, The Grand Sheep, after a nine-year absence, present their sophomore album Nightwatch. Founded in 2013 and comprising a line-up consisting out of Florian Rickert (vocals / keyboard), Andreas Bookjans (guitar), Alexander Röckl (bass), and Christoph Bäckmann (drums) they describe their style as melodic new art rock which intersperses guitar riffs, gentle synth tapestries and moderately tricky driving rhythms with heavier movements and psychedelic-nuanced smooth passages.
I don't fully pick up on these psychedelic components, apart from obvious moments in, for instance, the ominously frightening overture of Intro and the album's thought-provoking artwork. In light of the heavy prog that the band explores on Nightwatch this description however fully applies. Although "light" is a wrongly chosen word, because the music is foremost captured in a perfectly matching moody darkness that every now and again resonates with Queensrÿche's The Warning era.
The one reference continuously coming to mind, particularly in tracks like In Case Of Sanity and Cloud X, is that of Threshold's Wounded Land. A view strengthened by the guitar-based doomy nature of the dynamic music, and Rickert's befitting theatrical voice which at selected times bears a close charismatic resemblance to Damian Wilson. Rickert's keyboard approach does mark a difference as these are mostly used to create and enhance atmospheres. But melodically the music manoeuvres much the same, with bombastic passages and captivating guitar-led melodies transitioning through light and dark with compelling ease.
Another excellent example of this is Far From Cure which highlighted by elegant piano play in memory of Dreamscape offers a complexity of Headspace prog-metal. Solid guitar riffs add heavy metal impressions like Saxon. This composition proves to also be the perfect vehicle for Bookjans to channel his six-string mastery before the song ends on a vintage rocking Leslie West high.
Having successfully avoided the inner drive to make animal comments, this urge is really put to the test by the magnificent Nightwatch. Demonstrating that The Grand Sheep possess the talent to create a beautiful composition that mesmerises from start to finish, it actually turns out to be simply impossible. Because after three minutes of darkly gripping melodies, this magnificent composition slowly glides onto a towering movement in which everything reflects Animals by Pink Floyd.
Vocally very strong, Rickert's voice in Nightwatch also for the first time yields adjacent memories of Clint Bradley (Beltane Fire, The Blue Cats). An impression also surfacing in Suitable Pills, which slowly shifts the prog-metal surroundings into neo-prog realms in likeness of The Aurora Project. And Landamar, The Mandrill King which fiercely injected with a healthy dose of Pink Floyd styled guitar work showcases plenty of additional interesting musical ideas.
The same goes for Catatonia which repetitively drags on with doomy elements in vintage 70s Black Sabbath tradition. This song also firmly reminds of the aforementioned Threshold. But here I find the song's long-winding character to unfortunately take away the consolidated momentum of the album. A stagnating routine initially suffered as well in Final Day, until uplifting melodies energetically finalise the song on a refreshing prog melodic positive note.
At the end of the day, the dark and doomy Nightwatch is a great effort that firmly raises anticipation for The Grand Sheep's next step. Featuring thoughtful lyrics, inspired guitar play, lush keyboard arrangements, a rock solid rhythm section, and strong theatrical vocal accomplishments — which I realise might take some effort to get into — I hope it doesn't take them another nine years to complete a follow-up.
In other concluding words: Nightwatch offers plenty of dyed-in-the-wool performances and well-seasoned musicality to satisfy and please the heavy prog orientated enthusiast. Well worth investigating.
Nubdug Ensemble — Third
According to a famous statement, there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. Personally, I'd like to think there's at least a third. Namely, the security that Jason Berry's Nubdug Ensemble will release efforts just prior to the festive season. For up until now, for the fourth time in succession, they have always done so since 2020. Apart from a 2023 exception when Berry and the other sixteen members of his ensemble were still ambitiously at work on their third album Third.
Featuring nearly the exact same core of flexible gifted musicians as those performing on their previously reviewed albums, Third represents a contemporary musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's historic play The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar which, first performed in 1599, tells of the conspiracy against Roman emperor Caesar, his tragic murder, and the aftermath of this event. Told in eleven concisely structured tracks and strengthened in context by poetic lyrics and illustrative artwork, Nubdug Ensemble have artfully crafted this concept into one vibrantly refreshing musical whole. Although I have to confess that it did take time for the eclectic puzzling pieces of music to finally click into the overall captivating jigsaw chronicle it portrays.
Frequently surprising and full on challenging as always, the multi-textured compositions thrive on groovy interplay and ravishing jazzy performances. A delightful 70s feel reflecting all sorts of psychedelics, funk, rock, Frank Zappa influences, and cinema aspects, finds a meticulous way into the complex avant-garde entities. Exciting song material that, now fully deprived of such quirky advertisements like on Pimento Boots, showcases a firm step upwards on the progressive ladder.
Following the mysterious tension build-up of Third Overture that cinematically sets the scene, But In Ourselves instantly demonstrates this delectable increment of prog values. Funky and groovy at heart, embedded with jazz, elevated by scaling vocal elasticity. Violin adds a vaguely familiar flavour of The Flock. A fusion of soulful R&B, funk and melodic vibraphone virtuosity brings impressions of Gentle Giant.
This starter perfectly sets up the highly adventurous and perpetually changing listening experience of Third. Put It By Thrice steers contagiously tight past improvisational counter-rhythms, the excellent guitar work laces the melodies with proto-prog Spirit psychedelics.
The futuristic disco anomaly Portia And The Soothsayer leads to harmoniously balanced tuneful jazz melodies with mesmerising vocals. And the cinematic exploitations of Midmarch envisions electrifying King Crimson, before saxophones takes hold of the dynamic melodies in a rocking Rubicon and Mezzoforte way.
With the climactic This Little Measure and the Berry/ Chaudhary composition Triumvirate, both serving their fulfilling story purpose, Nubdug's concept takes an electronic deep dive into an oppressive psychedelic abyss in The Tide , coming out on top with a worldly uplifting round dance of tumultuous jazz in The Ghost At Philippi, finalising the concept in good spirits.
To cut a royal 37-minute long story short, Third is a great album that is consistently high in both songsmithery and execution. It will require quite a few listening sessions to fully fathom. If one even succeeds at all. But I'm sure that those who relish the daringly avant-garde, Zappa-styled, jazz side of prog will get a lot of savoury satisfaction from this outstanding album. With this release Nubdug Ensemble have knocked it out of the ballpark and assuringly raised my anticipation for many a festive season to come.
Protos — The Infinite Horizon
In my review of the The Noble Pauper's Grave, the 2007 sophomore album by Protos, I noted that their 1982 debut album One Day A New Horizon had been hailed as "one of the best prog rock albums ever made" and being described as "one of the most important albums of this particular subgenre". I expressed some doubt of these claims, largely because of the almost total obscurity of said album, and considered that the album's then recent reissue may have had some bearing on the hyperbolic nature of these claims.
But we can now hear for ourselves the veracity of the statements as the band's main protagonists Rory Ridley-Duff (keyboards) and Stephen Anscombe (guitars) have re-recorded that debut album, alongside drummer Alex Warwick who takes the seat originally occupied by Neil Goldsmith, in order to present "each track as the founding band members want them to be remembered".
The instrumental album suffers from, in places, a very 1980s sound and production, which is surprising as one would have thought that a re-recording could have completely updated the keyboard sounds to make it sound a lot more contemporary. Having said that, there is plenty to enjoy on the album with opener The Fugitive containing some sections that would not be out of place on a Camel album.
Throughout, things are taken at a relatively gentle pace with keyboards being the most prominent/dominant instrument and Anscombe's guitar work being largely subsumed in the mix — indeed, some of what I first took to be acoustic guitar lines may in fact be keyboard generated. Anscombe can be heard via the bass, though, which is nicely mixed alongside the keyboards.
The Maiden has something of the Rick Wakeman about it with some nifty flourishes, but Panamor is a bit pedestrian with a horrible drum machine used in the intro. Why they resorted to that is a mystery as further into the track Warwick provides his most energetic drumming.
The shortest track on the album, Hunting Extremely Large Animals is also the one that stands out the most as it's style and structure deviates from what has gone before (and after). A simple tune, this jaunty little number is quite fun and I can imagine it would have come over well live (they did perform live in the early 1980s as a quartet). Closer Protos is in a similar vein to the opener The Fugitive and is undoubtedly the most advanced composition on the album. There are some exceptionally well-written and performed sections in this track, slightly marred by a poor drum sound that lacks resonance. The track does have ambition and is a fine demonstration of the band at their best. What more can you ask for from a signature tune?
Second Day — Flamboyance
After Gojira's success at the Olympics (call it “hype” if you like), something must have altered the consciousness of French metalheads. At least, that's a fitting explanation of their multi-faceted creativity and special love for genre-breaching. Second Day, a one-man project from Besancon, Franche-Comte, releasing a sophomore full-length Flamboyance, stands proudly as another example of metallic townsend-ism. It also should have taken some extra guts (or an online randomizer) from Francois Tosserg, the mastermind of the band, to tag his music as melodic metal. For yours truly, “melodic metal” suits well for labelling the likes of Avantasia or Kamelot, but not the super-metallic modernisms of Second Day. Well… it's unlikely that this particular melodic metal would jump straight to euro-metal charts, although this does not speak of the material's quality.
Nothing illustrates the above thoughts better than the music itself. As soon as the ambient title track-slash-intro is over, the heavy sound of You Are The Architect hits you like a truck loaded with Gojira's tour equipment going full-speed, and the album only gives you a couple of respites before the running time ends. Despite the rather familiar, even simplistic forms, there are a lot of influences mixed here in more or less equal doses. The sound is located somewhere on the border between atmospheric deathcore and (equally atmospheric) European doom-death. Think Fallujah with fewer breakdowns, with almost Isis heaviness and cosmic ambiance of Enshine or Francois' compatriots Fractal Gates.
Francois' vocals only add to the weight. As the social media affirms, he is a professional vocal coach and Flamboyance goes to prove it well. Both clean parts and growls are superbly done, no less. Especially the brutal vocals shine brightly, standing close to Dan Swano's deep vocal work in Edge of Sanity and on his solo Moontower CD, which makes a nice change from the usual hardcore screams that deathcore bands tend to employ. Besides that, Francois mixes nicely brutal downtuned core riffs with mournful, elegiac phrases straight from the arsenal of Saturnus or Godgory, and nods to atmospheric wanderings of Alcest.
Still think it's melodic metal? All this “confectionery” is packed in a reasonably timed forty-five-minute release that doesn't get boring and runs long enough to allow the listener to embrace the nuances. My favorite tracks are Adults Control Nothing (superb title, n'est-ce pas?) and Yulge Linya with tribal influences and nice mood shifts from calm to headbanging frenzy and back.
The lows are pretty familiar for modern one-man bands – almost “ChatGPT-ed” drums, tight and hard-hitting, but not really entertaining – and bass buried six feet low in the mix. The devil you know...
Flamboyance stands well between the genres that got used to pretend and not notice each other for a long time – and that's in my eyes an important achievement for an under-the-radar project like Second Day. While the conservative doom-death fanbase may be cautious about the release, it definitely adds new colors to the genre.