Brotherhood of Sleep – Dark as Light

Generally the idea of a power trio makes me think that a band is either going to be wonderfully amazing or a total piece of shit. There are no other options. I guess this is because if you’re in a trio you have less members, so each person has to contribute a lot more.

So right now we’re dealing with a trio called Broderhood of Sleep (not to be confused with the Down’s moniker The Brotherhood of Eternal Sleep), who hail from Greece with Dark as Light as their second album, after their 2009 self titled debut. Four, entirely instrumental pieces that clock over ten minutes each make up this album. The album consists of stonerized heavy psychedelia, widening the Greek scene that began to take shape ages ago with acts such as Socrates Drank the Conium among many others. Mostly in the heavy riff-driven waters, Dark as Light shows its diversity by partially employing elements of progressive rock improvisation. As the album runs, each of these four massive chops is a story per se and Dark as Light is wonderful at making sure the listener pays attention to them. The droning, coldblooded riffs of George G. are the most consistent factor of the album and Serafim G’s over-the-edge snares and crashes build up the atmospheric passages of interpreting dark and light. The bass lines of Danis A. create a strong transitional bond between the guitars and drums. Danis has some particularly glimmering moments especially on Naze, being the longest track (over 14 minutes). This particular track is probably the best one for showing the band’s idea of seeing dark as light. Although I already mentioned the significance of every member in a trio-based outfit, when it comes to Brotherhood of Sleep the drumer takes the biggest piece of the cake. His drumming is astonishing, sometimes overdisplayed by its intensity with interesting fills and clockwork crashes and it really makes the difference.

George G. on the other hand is mostly concerned with riffs, but he doesn’t forget to solo. His solo adventures are actually just like that, adventurous and mostly come as a filler for the overall atmosphere. Of course, you cannot expect a psychedelic-stoner rock based band to employ arpeggios and whatnot, but the guitar soloing on Dark as Light is constructed as an atmospheric addition. George delivers his tour de force moment on Aranian Gates. The guys are the inexhaustible source of inspiration to each other. It’s amazing to hear that blend of guitar, drums and bass working in such a good lock-step. Speaking of the track itself, its vibrations recall Om as a reference patterned through a bit of YOB’s droneage. The grand finale of the album, Dark as Light is the mostly spacey piece, especially because of the reverb that accompanies the guitar. Aside from its differently approached structure in comparison with the previous three tracks, it still gives the same vibe of being a part of Dark as Light.

In closing, I need to say that no matter the quality of this record (which is unquestionable) Brotherhood of Sleep has still enough space for further develoment. I expect more from them next time, and but I’m sure they can deliver.

Tracklist:

Afterlife Unearthed
Naze
Aranian Gates
Dark as Light

Line-up:

George G. – guitars
Danis A. – bass
Serafim G. – drums

Domo-Domo

I have no idea how many of you have heard about a Spanish town called Alicante, but I may tell that I got familiar with this name years ago when, as a teenager, I passionately followed Spanish football, because Alicante CF is one of the football teams in Segunda División. Now, not to try to prove the well-known fact that football is the “most important secondary thing in the world”, I shall, without further ado, introduce you to a young psychedelic rock trio called Domo.

Let me set it clear from the beginning: these Spaniards know what to do with their instruments. Domo is their first album and apparently these guys have invested a lot of effort to come up with a release that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with their many colleagues in the genre. Domo makes me understand the term “psychedelic”, reflected through their hypnotizing turnovers of guitars and freakingly intense rhythm section.

It’s expected that the lengthiest tracks build up this recording, but during my listenings I didn’t feel any kind of inequality during the album’s playtime. Psychedelic rock is a musical style that establishes a connection between the audio and visual. With eyes open wide, these tunes make me dream of southern Spain, especially its desert parts (such The Tabernas Desert or Bardenas Reales). Maybe it is where these desert rock references come from. Searching for what has inspired Alicante’s oeuvre is truly not a smart decision, these guys don’t really have limits and do not follow any particular traces, but surely pay tribute to some of the likes of the golden era of psychedelic subculture. The overall impression is that Domo is a psychedelic rock album when it’s needed, the timings for fuzzy guitar- and drum-work are set to appear in a natural flow. Nothing is over-pushed, they seem to prefer to stay in the subdomains of folkish and ambient-meditative stuff rather than force out psyched-out patterns that could only bore a listener. And for that, Domo gets a prize.

At the other side the albums foundations lie in psychedelia. Domo does not stop even a second for prediction, their experimental level is brought to a state of smoothness. I can’t resist mentioning My Brother the Wind’s Twilight in the Crystal Cabinet. Some of you know my excitement concerning this album, the Swedes came up with an opus that shook psychedelic rock upside-down through its axis. If that is the case (and that is!), then to put it simply, Domo continues the same way, threatening to establish a new standard in a quietly dull psychedelic branch.

Tracklist:

Nadi
Prana
Asura
Pretas
Yamantaka
Eta Carinae
Samsara

Line-up:

Paco – drums, percussion
Sam – guitars, effects
Oscar – bass, vocals

Suplecs – Mad Oak Redoux

To be honest with you, I don’t know much about New Orleans except for a few jazz artists that have emerged from there. I’ve also heard of the terrible Katrina hurricane, I guess. New Orleans is the spot of the subject in this review, though, so I did a little research on it. Suplecs seem to have gathered the raw energy of their home city and brought it all together in a collection of songs they call Powtin’ on the Outside Pawty on the Inside released in 2005 on Nocturnal Records.

If this album succeeded in capturing the raw energy, anger, and other states of mind caused by the aforementioned catastrophe, with Mad Oak Redoux they are going to the next level, letting their experience do the talking. The band has kept the punk rock attitude that built up the previous album, but this time they were much freer with the experimentation, and it’s showed through the album’s forty minutes. The angst remains the same, but there is certainly much more hidden behind the mask of anger.

As for the label, punk rock isn’t really valid for describing this work. The band recalls a variety of elements from their past records, especially the fuzziness of Wrestlin’ with My Lady Friend released in 2000. Musically, this is the band’s most mature album and the progress is evident when compared to their previous works. The closest reference to any other bands or musicians Suplecs gives is Brant Bjork. I cannot tell about how much these peeps from New Orleans have been inspired by Bjork, but this is strictly a personal take on the music itself. Fema Man and Tried to Build an Engine are the closest examples for that. The opening Stand Alone feels like a song of hope, giving sparks of optimism through the chorus. Worlds on Fire is a short, punkish track, and together with Stepped On comes as the most punk-oriented piece off the album. 2×4 has nothing to do with Metallica song of the same name, and stylistically is the closest to the band’s earlier works, which are psychedelic, spacy and much fuzzier. Maybe for that reason I find this piece the most interesting. The bluesy overture of In Your Shadow explodes with a riff, setting a pace for a much more metal mood, while the aforementioned Stepped On could be easily described as something Jimi Hendrix would play if he played punk. While there’s apparent influence from blues and stoner rock with punk motifs in Coward, the closing Switchblade is a truly thick sludge moment.

There is nothing epochal in Mad Oak Redoux, nor has the band ever shown an urge for breaking any barriers, they have simply kept what they feel and from that reason this is probably their most valuable release. The maxim “with age comes experience” is proven once again.

Tracklist:

Stand Alone
Fema Man
Once Again
Tried to Build an Engine
Words on Fire
2×4
In Your Shadow
Stepped On
Coward
Switchblade

Lo-Pan – Salvador

Finding a fresh stoner rock album in the present era is as rare as a hen’s tooth. There are good and bad albums, there are stoner rock albums with good riffage, which is as you might know a core of every good stoner-fied album. But even with good riff-work these albums are lacking for something and you could spend hours bashing your head against the wall to find out what is it that’s missing. Stop bashing for a moment and put your attention right here.

Smallstone Records – my next stop. I received several downloadable copies of their recent roster additions and I may say that I am quite thrilled. For starters, I’ve choosen Lo-Pan’s latest achievement called Salvador. And what an album this is, my dear people. Salvador is the third recording of these Columbus, Ohio based rockers whom I had an opportunity to meet via their second album Sasquanaut, which was a great record, but what they have done here leaves that album miles and miles away. This one has the potential to become a classic in the subgenre.

What makes Salvador distinct from the overloaded ocean of stoner rock albums is the fact that the band’s formula of mixing strong riffs and melody succeeded and as a result we got 11 tracks in 46 minutes. These eleven pieces are extremely memorable, masterfully structured and well planned. With a thin line between stoner and mainstream rocking on moments, Lo-Pan is to be enjoyed by wide audience. Brian Fristoe’s frenzy solo guitar work leading a whole family of majestic riffs is the strongest factor that builds up Salvador. But, guitars alone are not the only amazing thing that makes up these soundwaves. Jeff Martin on vocals gives a singing lesson here, showcasing the melodiousness and aggression simultaneosly and doing it all in a very innovative way. Let’s not forget the rhythm section: Skot Thompson (bass) and J. Bartz (drums) deliver a fine portion of hi-class rhytmics, and together these two elements form a strong relationship that lasts from the very first tracks of the record to its closing beats. It doesn’t matter if you play this album from the beginning or from its middle or backward or in a shuffle mode – you will find yourself with mouth open wide no matter what.

The album starts off with El Dorado, and the band is determined to show straight from the beginning the energy, power and the hitting force that makes up Salvador.

The winning formula keeps on with Bleeding Out – monstrously heavy riffs coming in order, catchable refrains, never lacking for melody. All of this is emphasized further through the rest of the album. There is not too much polarization in the album’s structure, all these songs are of the same quality and it really looks like they are composed in one breath.

Seed flies in with an opening riff which is able to rise the dead, making a turnout towards a stoner-y direction.

Birds of Prey fades in as an interlude with a very calm opening, but the things start to rock’n'roll soon after this dull beginning. I think it wouldn’t be much to tell anything about guitar work here, that Fristoe dude shows a masterfully work throughout the album – nuff said.

Decidious trully sounds more progressive than some of the twenty-minutes-long-tortures neo-prog bands produce only because “we-need-such-an-epic-piece-just-because-we-are-prog” situation. So much is said in these three and a half minutes, thus we may conclude that Salvador satisfies also the appetite of a middle-aged prog
listener.

Intro marks the entrance of the second half of the album and with its 1:48 it is a strong bridge, giving Martin’s vocals a break.

Chichen Itza is a diametrally symmetric to Decidious, emphasizing in that way a mirror-role for Intro. At the same time, as Chichen Itza starts off the second half of the album, there is an obvious parallel set between this piece and the album’s opener El Dorado. In general, this album may be considered as having a deep relation with
mathematics, especially geometry. You can easily make parallels between songs or thread out axes through their structures – proving that way the theorems Lo-Pan writes. Having related this album with mathematical theories, I’m coming to the point to name this record simply as “The Riffing Manifesto”. Seriously, in a time when riffs
have become totally monotonous due to repetition, Salvador appears as a smartly-arranged encyclopedia.

Spartacus keeps up the good work and is a sort of a rhythmic exercise with many breakups which lead into another frantically fuzzed out guitar solo.

The return to the ground with a slower Struck Match forms a doom ring around Salvador.

The songship floats further with Generations, which comes across as pretty energetic after the previous diverse piece. A feeling that shakes me after hearing this song is that the album enters as a potential candidate for those extreme sports TV channels, showing all those hellish exhibitions.

And finally the closing and the lengthiest song – Solo doesn’t show even a bit of fatigue because of the album’s end. On the contrary, it’s like the album just started, which is one of the advantages of Salvador.

These eleven pieces spread out like an infection, taking you completely and no matter of how much you listen to this record, it’s certainly not enough to satisfy your daily needs. Salvador is the opposite of boredom. Inspiring work, always interesting to hear, never predictable – isn’t it what you need when it comes to innovation in music? Modern stoner rock, that’s what you may expect to get out from this release. With bands such Lo-Pan, we don’t have to fear about the future of the genre. The renaissance happened once, but why not again?

Tracklist:

El Dorado
Bleeding Out
Seed
Bird of Prey
Decidious
Intro
Chichen Itza
Spartacus
Struck Match
Generations
Solo

ProgSphere’s Progstravaganza Compilation of Awesomeness – Part V

Having published four parts of our series of Prostravaganza compilations and coming up with this 5th part, the “extreme edition”, we may say that we have two great things to celebrate. First of all, we are one year old and we’re crawling pretty well. Secondly, this is the fifth part of our series, so we can say it’s a sort of a jubilee, can’t we?

So, an Extreme Edition huh? What do you think that should sound like? You’ve guessed right! This time we’ve created another theme compilation and our main team is… metal! You will hear some melodic stuff, some straight prog metal, but also some extreme stuff. Thus, this is our heaviest compilation we put out to date. The new counties in our ever growing list are The Netherlands, Venezuela, Australia and Moldova. Not much, but we’re sending our proggy tendrils across the world with each new compilation. USA and UK took a lead this time, having three bands each, while France and Sweden are presented with two tracks each. But in our understanding of the whole thing it’s not important where all these bands come from, what’s important is the actual music and nothing more. And music is good.

Twenty-one bands this time too (if you recall, the previous compilation had the same number of bands), but this time we present you only premiers. And what should I say about the cover? Mr. Sundstom provided another masterpiece from his golden hands, this time bringing forth something truly evil, evoking in that way the essence of metal.

After this compilation we’re going to take a bit of a break with them until July so we can give you all some time to digest them, as well as ourselves some time to plan! Of course we will keep on bringing you more hot interviews and reviews in our normally chaotic way. The next compilation might deal with Italian prog, but since this hasn’t been 100% confirmed, don’t quote me. Even if the next compilation is RPI, we’re certainly going to do themeless ones in the future, so we would love to invite all of you who play or know someone who plays in a band that would be interested in contributing to future compilations, to drop an email at progsphere@gmail com for a possible agreement. Feel free to get in touch with us through the social networks which links are shown below.

And now get in your spacecrafts, start up the engines and head for another journey.

Tracklist:

EXIVIOUS – Waves of Thought (The Netherlands)
MIOSIS – The Lucid (Sweden)
AGNOSIA – Adrift Into Lie (Greece)
FORNOST ARNOR – The Tragedy of Delusion (UK)
AZURE AGONY – Mystic Interiors (Italy)
RELOCATOR – The Alchemist (Germany)
DARKWATER – Breathe (Sweden)
ECHOES – Despair (Venezuela)
BLOTTED SCIENCE – Laser Lobotomy (USA)
HOOKAHTHEFUZZ – (D)Illusion (UK)
HEMINA – And Now to Find a Friend (Australia)
NEUROMIST – Reason Crusade (Moldova)
EXIST – Writhe
(USA) ALLEY – Days for Gray (Russia)
HESUS ATTOR – Senorai (Croatia)
A FOREST OF STARS – Raven’s Eye View (UK)
FINNR’S CANE – The Hope for Spring (Canada)
ERYN NON DAE. – Existence Asleep (France)
CHRONEIROS – Zeuhl (Serbia)
7th NEMESIS – Distorted Mass (of Unformed Matter) (France)
GRAYCEON – Shellmounds (USA)

[DOWNLOAD PROGSPHERE'S PROGSTRAVAGANZA COMPILATION OF AWESOMENESS – PART 5 HERE]

Jeff Green – Jessica

Inspired by and describing events leading up to the tragic still birth of his daughter Jessica in 1996, and Jessica’s enduring legacy, Jeff Green’s album was 11 years in the making, as he naturally needed to get it right and of course it must have been a painful and cathartic, but at the same time celebratory experience for him and his family. All profits from the sale of this cd are being donated to a hospital in the UK towards the creation of a bereavement room for families who suffer the same awful fate in the future. Read Jessica’s deeply moving story here.

Jeff is a guitarist originally from Northern California, now residing in Ireland, via the UK. To help him make the album he called upon the vast experience of Mike Stobbie (keyboards – ex Pallas), Pete Riley (drums – John Wetton, Keith Emerson Band & Guthrie Govan) and top UK guitarist Phil Hilborne. The music they have created crosses all aspects of Classic Prog to produce a varied and interesting listen. Drawing on the influences of Floyd, Yes, Rush, Genesis, and all things classic rock, Jeff and the band produce music that encompasses hope, pride, reflection, fear joy, anger, loss, grief, and a resolving inner strength – in fact the entire gamut of human emotion. It sure can’t have been easy making this album and as it took so long to put together it is perhaps to be expected that emotionally at least, one would see a change through the years. It would be interesting to know which parts of the album were written when, as it hangs together very well and it’s not really possible to make any distinction between the “then” and the ”now”, much to Jeff’s credit.

As you would expect with two guitarists in the band that instrument dominates, and there is some fine soloing and harmony work, especially on On This Night, the longest song at just over 9 minutes on this 12 song album. The following track Willing The Clouds Away has some nice keyboard touches, and more impressive axe-spanking. There are a few short pieces that serve as links between the longer workouts, one of which reminds me of Horizons, and the lyrics which are sparingly used are unsurprisingly plaintive in places and never less than heartfelt. Jessica’s Theme is sad but uplifting at the same time, and the following three closing songs on the album is where the whole thing takes off. Tomorrow Never Came let’s out Jeff’s anger and hurt at the sheer unfairness of the hand that fate has dealt. One wonders how many takes it took to get down a line like ”I thought today would be the day I would be holding you.” It’s hard enough being a disconnected listener, so God knows what recording this must have been like. Cathartic only begins to describe it I’d imagine. The lovely and atmospheric Prittlewell Chase then calms things down with some reflective Celtic inspired sounds, conjuring images of a favourite beauty spot perhaps? Halfway through the song morphs into proto-funk electronica backing with still restrained wah guitar and harmony guitars to the fore. The album closes with Live Forever, the sentiment expressed in the title needing no explanation I hope, and ends with some fittingly uplifting guitar runs full of joie de vivre.

Overall I suppose Symphonic Prog is the label that might apply, were it not for the subject matter showing up pigeonholing as the largely pointless exercise it always is. This album is an emotionally wrought experience, obviously for the creator, and for the listener too, without ever coming across as mawkish or overly sentimental, and I defy any listener not to be touched by this album.

Although not my usual aural cup of tea, I will return to it when I need a bit of grounding, such is its impact.

Listen and buy here.

Nick Riff – The Universe is Mental

Nick is back with another record. I really liked his 2009 Photon Shift record but here he has made a mostly instrumental and really psychedelic electronic record. There are 9 tracks in 58 minutes and Nick plays all the instruments except some saxophone (on Forever) and woodwinds (on Heaven) by Jhaz Sigeret (what a cool name- Jazz Cigarette!).

The opening track starts with a very repetitive kick drum that does not change the whole track but is not also tribal enough for me and layers of spacey synths and nice delay guitars. Ok track but it did not evolve much.

Paled Vision is nearly 7mins long and starts with some synths looping and Nick comes in with some vocals here and there and a very spacey synth also goes in and out. Spacey stuff.

Where are we Now has some drums but they are not adding a whole lot as they are pretty uninteresting and is mostly synthesizer based as well and very spacey. There is some very cool guitar in this track or at least I am pretty sure it is guitar that is highly effected.

The limits of Perception starts with a repetitive synth loop from which the track develops and he has some piano like playing as well but again, it is very similar to the other tracks.

Forever is a short 4 min track that Nick plays on the piano and vocals and features some percussion (which kind of disrupts the track) and saxophone.

Sumerian Spacefort has some basic drum percussion and multiple layers of spacey keyboards and the lead keyboard has a sort of eastern flute like sound to it which is cool.

Snake Charmers Ritual has some pretty cool synths and a totally different type of percussion-drum sound than the other tracks. Some of the synth sounds are really panned out to the sides and it sounds cool.

Implant Procedure Explained starts with some very spaced out stuff and an highly effected vocal, maybe suppose to simulate an alien speaking to you about being implanted. Trippy stuff.

The track Heaven, ends your hour long journey into nickriff world with another piano track with Nick singing.

Nick describes the record like this, “it is a collection of vibrations and frequencies arranged to connect on a quantum level with the omni-energy field, entering into the infinite mind, transcending the illusion of time.” Enjoy…

Il Rovescio Della Medaglia – Microstorie

I have to admit that before listening to this album, I’ve already been familiar with only one previous effort of the band, highly impressive and well known symphonic prog gem – “Contaminazione”. Unfortunately “Microstorie” has nothing to do with that album’s style. The new material presented by re-united Il Rovescio Della Medaglia is much more mainstream oriented hard rock/pop-rock with only few heavy prog influences and even less symphonic parts. But is it completely bad? Not really. So let’s look to my brief description of songs included on “Microstorie”:

1. “Quale Film” – album begins with standard AOR song full of dazzling guitars and brass section. Nothing impressive but not too offensive either. Surprisingly keyboards are usually inaudible here. Overall very “modern” sounding. However I like last few seconds when we can enjoy symphonic orchestral finale.

2. “Se Non Hai” – much harder song with crunching guitar riffs. If not the Italian language I’d easily mistaken them with some Southern hard rock band from Texas! Anyway vocals are quite strange here, mainly half-whispering, low-sounding “talking” instead of real singing, but we also have “normal” refrains here. Not so bad, because I kinda like this repetitive guitar riff here.

3. “Microstorie” – slightly more symphonic sounding piece with acoustic guitar, piano & soft vocals. Saxophone is a nice addition too. Similar to some more pop-oriented ballads recorded in 70s by Le Orme.

4. “Luca’s Bar” – one of my favorite tracks on the album but still with no connections to this band’s glory past. It’s mainly very groovy instrumental blues-rock driven by heavy electric guitar leads & solos, but quirky synthesizers (unfortunately very digital sounding), pianos & some brass sections make it more heavy prog-like.

5. “Cattivi Pensieri” – mainly pop-rock with radio-friendly refrain, string & brass sections & usual harder edged guitar delivery. Unimpressive, however Moog (?) solo in the end reminds about good old 70s symphonic prog in the vain o Rick Wakeman’s solo output.

6. “Dimmi Ancora di Si” – another rather typical Italian-style pop-ballad. Nothing to write about.

7. “Tapis Roulant” – only a little more interesting attempt on recording pop-rock hit. String & brass sections starts to be annoying…

8. “Grida, Urli & Strilli” – finally keyboardist’s Hammond organ & piano playing became more audible here. However “Grida, Urli & Strilli” is still only straightforward rock’n'roller without any real prog/art factor. Overusing of orchestra kills the sheer rock energy for me here. Too much “cabaret” feeling IMO. But I have to admit that I enjoyed organ/guitar interlude soloing near the end of the track.

9. “Ci Sono Giorni” – slightly more proggy mid-tempo track with some good guitar solo & organ background. Thankfully no orchestra here so we can enjoy band-only performance.

10. “Souvenir” – quite entertaining hard rock song with rather catchy rhythm & melody. Very guitar-led, without any orchestra. Quite recommended compared with previous couple of turkeys.

11. “Hai Mai Tentato” – entertaining hard rock with good organ work and not too offensive brass section parts. Not impressive (like all the other songs here…) but still OK.

12. “Part Time” – melodic hard rock song with the most memorable refrain. Overall nothing special but if you like catchy/poppy rock with harder guitars you might like it.

How to judge this effort? It’s fairly typical AOR/pop-hard-rock album without any surprises and if would be recorded with some debuting artist I could give them these 3 stars. But it’s Il Rovescio Della Medaglia, famous symphonic prog act from 70s!! So I can’t help to not compare “Microstorie” with 70s material of this formation. And this comparison makes album from 2010 look very pale. That’s why I can recommend this album only to collectors of Italian hard rock with slight proggy feel and die-hard fans of 70s prog dinosaurs who want to check how their idols play in XXI century.

Best track: “Luca’s Bar”

Tracklist:
1.  Quale Film (4:14)
2.  Se Non Hai (3:27)
3.  Microstorie (4:57)
4.  Luca’s Bar (6:13)
5.  Cattivi Pensieri (3:51)
6.  Dimmi Ancora di Si (4:55)
7.  Tapis Roulant (3:37)
8.  Grida, Urli & Strilli (3:59)
9.  Ci Sono Giorni (4:52)
10.  Souvenir (4:01)
11.  Hai Mai Tentato (3:36)
12.  Part Time (3:55)

Total Time: 51:37

Line-up:
* Pino Ballarini / vocals, flute
* Enzo Vita / guitar
* Franco Di Sabbatino / keyboards
* Stefano Urso / bass
* Gino Campoli / drums, percussion

Links:

http://www.ilrovesciodellamedaglia.it

www.myspace.com/rovesciodellamedaglia

London Underground – Honey Drops

After very good “Through A Glass Darkly” and 7 years break, London Underground strikes back with new (3rd) album and re-formed line-up. The only original member which left in the band is organist Gianluca Gerlini, who joined forces with Alessandro Gimignani (drums) & Fabio Baini (bass). As much as I liked previous rhythm section of Stefano Gabbani (also vocals) & Daniele Caputo (both from very impressive formation called Standarte), I still have to say that I love new sound of London Underground: instrumental only psychy/jazzy/proggy organ-driven power trio. “Honey Drops” is a really entertaining release filled with highly energetic new versions of some well known & totally obscure rock classics from 60′ and 70′ + few original compositions of the band. It’s also worth noticing that despite being Hammond-drenched prog trio, London Underground doesn’t sound like ELP or Triumvirat at all. They music is much more rooted in 60′ & early 70′ psychedelic rock, jazz, blues, rhythm&blues and early progressive rock.

1. “Fanfare” – album begins wonderfully with their own version of “Fanfare/Fire Poem” originally recorded by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. And of course it’s an instrumental, so we can listen to entire “background” music which was used as a “base” for Arthur Brown’s crazy poem. Gianluca Gerlini really knows how to play this track, you’d swear that it’s resurrected Vincent Crane bashing his trusty organs again here! Fantastic playing and superb idea to give a new life for music which was already long forgotten. BTW mellotron intro is truly splendid too.

2. “Ellis Island” – London Underground’s version of Brian Auger’s classic instrumental track is also top notch. Very jazzy performance as always loaded with swirling organ, but this time we can also hear supportive wah-wah, funky guitar licks played by guest: Riccardo Cavalieri. In general it’s very faithful to Auger’s original but I still think it was worth to re-new it, especially that Sergio Taglioni added some nice Moog fragments here too.

3. “Jive Samba” – very lively tune which (as sources says) was originally played by Cannonball Adderly. I can describe it as schizophrenic samba with energetic organ chops and crazy-ass electric piano bashing in the middle. Sounds very exotic (Latino percussion style etc.) and groovy. I can only compare it to early Santana (but without leading guitar) or – even more – Keith Emerson’s debut album called “Honky”.

4. “Honey Drops” – first band’s own composition (or maybe I just don’t know who composed original…) is darker & more progressive then previous two tracks. Lots of gloomy organ leads, fuzzy electric guitar & omnipresent mellotron waves. Riccardo Cavalieri also plays some nightmarish viola in the background which add special dimension to the music. London Underground really knows how to play dark & energetic in the same time. Truly recommended.

5. “Midnight Cowboy” – I read that this one is a cover of the main theme from soundtrack (composed by John Barry) to movie called “Midnight Cowboy”. But I’ve never heard the original so I can’t compare. Anyway it’s a really good & relaxing piece of music led by atmospheric organ layers, mellotron outbursts & rhythmic acoustic guitar. Very pleasant & melodic.

6. “Faster And Faster” – superb cover of instrumental originally performed by very obscure French group called Eden Rose. Just like London Underground, Eden Rose was also organ-driven band (however they had guitarist as a steady member) so both versions aren’t so much different. However LU’s cover includes much longer & weirder improvisation section and sounds fresher in general. Great organ runs as always!

7. “Dharma For One” – this guy’s version of this Jethro Tull’s folky instrumental is a real treat. Instead of flute-led track with boring drum solo (as in JT’s version) we have an organ-driven highly energetic heavy prog here with tremendously heavy organ riffs (reminiscence of Vincent Crane’s work in Atomic Rooster). In general it seems that LU’s “Dharma for One” was rather inspired by equally impressive Exclamation Mark’s version than Jethro Tull’s original one. (P.S. Exclamation Mark was a little known pre-Black Widow band which recorded one album in 1969 with “Dharma for One” in it). Anyway superb Hammond performance and suitable saxophone addition in courtesy of guest Stefano Negri!

8. “Queen St. Gang” – perfect cover of instrumental originally released by famous pre-Egg band called Arzachel. Overall very faithful to the original, only addition of some background synch-orchestra (arranged by Sergio Taglioni) makes a slight difference. But I don’t mind that it’s so similar to original, ’cause I’m always glad to hear this track which is a pinnacle of British psychedelia for me. But I have to admit that Gianluca Gerlini wasn’t able to recreate the same schizophrenic, high-pitched organ sound which only Dave Stewart knows how to play.

9. “St. Helens” – this one seems to be the second track originally composed by London Underground but unfortunately it’s definitely the weakest one here. It’s too much dominated by Sergio Taglioni’s electronic sounds created on Moog synthesizer. In the end we have some more audible organ chops but it doesn’t change a thing that “St. Helens” is a poor experimental track which doesn’t suit the rest of the album. Uneven & rather tiresome four minutes.

10. “Norwegian Wood” – probably my favorite track on “Honey Drops”. In theory it’s a cover of The Beatles’ song but in fact only the main melody from the beginning reminds us about it. More or less LU’s “Norwegian Wood” is a long organ improvisation in the vain of Atomic Rooster’s instrumentals, while the end of the track is a strange collage of sounds similar to quirky intros/outros played by Vanilla Fudge on their debut album.

11. “Waiting For The Lady” – seems to be the 3rd composition wrote by London Underground. Unfortunately just like “St. Helens” it’s quite poor track. Very repetitive drums work (like machine) and boring, steady organ sounds. However later we can listen to some very nice viola section which I surely enjoy.

12. “Jive Samba”(Radio Edit) – in the end there is a single single edit of “Jive Samba”.

All in all “Honey Drops” is a fantastic album which should please all fans of retro-prog and instrumental psychedelia. Particularly I’d like to suggest it to fans of jazz/blues-rock organ master Brian Auger, heavy prog Atomic Rooster and psychy/soul Lee Michaels, but I think that all fans of early 70s prog acts (like Cressida, Beggar’s Opera, Aardvark, Quatermass etc.) will love this staff too. If you like “Honey Drops” material you should also check out band called Captain Hammond which is organ-led trio with similar but slightly more R’n'B/soul oriented music.

Anyway “Honey Drops” is a superb album and almost 5 starts worth, but because of 1-3 weaker tracks I will have to give it 4,5 stars rating.

Best tracks: “Norwegian Wood”, “Fanfare”, “Dharma For One” & “Honey Drops”

Tracklist:
1. Fanfare (2:43)
2. Ellis Island (3:10)
3. Jive Samba (5:56)
4. Honey Drops (6:22)
5. Midnight Cowboy (4:19)
6. Faster And Faster (5:32)
7. Dharma For One (2:59)
8. Queen Saint-Gang (4:16)
9. Saint-Helens (4:02)
10. Norwegian Wood (5:33)
11. Waiting For The Lady (2:40)
12. Jive Samba (3:11)

Line-up:

* Gianluca Gerlini / Hammond C3, piano, wurlitzer, fender rhodes, mellotron
* Alessandro Gimignani /drums
* Fabio Baini /bass
+ guests
* Stefano Negri /sax
* Riccardo Cavalieri /acoustic and electric guitars,violas
* Sergio Taglioni /moog,mellotron and synful orchestra

Links:

www.myspace.com/londonunderground2010

Presto Ballet – Invisible Places

“Invisible Places” is the 3rd album of American retro-prog formation Presto Ballet, led by Metal Church guitarist – Kurdt Vanderhoof. This time more than half of band’s musicians were replaced, we have new vocalist, keyboardist & bassist here. Anyway I have to admit that these changes are very welcome because after very solid debut album and slightly weaker (but still good) second output, “Invisible Places” seems te be their pinnacle! Everything seems to work perfect here and their retro-style shines more than ever. I especially have to praise Kerry Shacklett who is a truly fantastic keyboard-player, his wide range of old school equipment (Hammond organ, electric & acoustic pianos, mellotron, Moog synthesizer etc.) is astonishing and he always manages to “stay on top”, never being overshadowed by Kurdt’s electric guitar wailing.

1. “Between the Lines” – album begins with great track driven by fat organ chops and analog/digital synthesizers + metallic guitar riffs. Very catchy & memorable tune with fantastic vocals by new member – Ronny Munroe. All in all it sounds very much like Kansas from early 70s but with more aggressive vocals and harder edged guitar delivery. Some fantastic mellotron/organ interludes in the middle! And lots of great acoustic guitar moments! Overall stunning piece.

2. “The Puzzle” – electrifying intro with swirling Hammond and crunching guitar riffing, followed by lovely piano tune makes a good start for “The Puzzle”. In general piano plays very important part in this song and it’s a very welcome factor. After almost 3 minutes Ronny Munroe starts to sing and it’s another solid performance. Refrain is very memorable and has almost sing-a-long feature, but it’s miles away from being cheesy/poppy of course. Good Moog runs (near the end of the track) included.

3. “Sundancer” – it’s softer composition compared with previous ones. More synthesizers than organ-driven this time, but in the middle section we can can still listen to some fast tempo Hammond runs so everything’s as it should be. To sum up: proggy ballad a la Uriah Heep’s “Circle of Hands” and alike. Probably the weakest track on the album I’m afraid.

4. “Of Grand Design” – begins with birds’ sounds so “Close to to Edge” springs to your mind but it’s not the case here. “Of Grand Design” is the first 12+ minutes epic on “Invisible Places” and I really, really like it but it has nothing in common with “Close to to Edge” except the beginning. It sounds more like mix of Kansas, early Styx, Uriah Heep and Birth Control. Kerry Shacklett’s Hammond organ runs are especially heavy & they’re driving this piece perfectly, while his organ solo showcase in the middle is especially worth to be mentioned. But don’t be mistaken, “Of Grand Design” included also many calmer moments with synth/piano passages.

5. “One Perfect Moment” – the shortest song of this release isn’t bad at all too. Very enjoyable heavy prog/hard rock in the vain of Deep Purple or Birth Control (and you can find this kind of songs in Don Airey’s & Ryo Okumoto’s last solo albums too). Quite straightforward but with highly entertaining organ & guitar leads.

6. “All in All” – this one surprisingly begins with Pink Floyd-ish synthesizer sounds but after few seconds everything comes back to standard Presto Ballet style. It’s still interesting composition where slow & dynamic fragments are incorporated perfectly to keep listeners happy. Organ solo is a top notch here, it has truly 70s “feeling” for me. Crazy organ/Moog crescendo in the end is also great.

7. “No End to Begin” – second, the longer epic is probably my favorite track of the album. It’s a real multi-part mini-suite which begins very mellow (acoustic guitar, synths, relaxing vocals) but as the time goes on “No End to Begin” shows its “claws”. Especially long, elaborated Hammond organ solo in the middle of the suite is a wonderful culmination of preceding “tension”. In the second part we can also witness some fantastic piano melodies & glorious mellotron waves.

To summarize: “Invisible Places” is definitely my favorite album recorded by Presto Ballet. It sounds like culmination of their career but I still hope that they will be able to “beat it” in the future. All fans of Kansas, early Styx & Journey, but also Uriah Heep, Birth Control & Deep Purple should check it out. If you like such analog keyboards oriented heavy prog you should also check such retro-prog bands like Wicked Minds, Standarte, Black Bonzo, BigElf, Cosmic Nomads, Storm at Sunrise or The Divine Baze Orchestra.

Best tracks: “No End to Begin” & “Between the Lines”

Tracklisting:

1. Between the Lines (7:15)
2. The Puzzle (7:52)
3. Sundancer (8:45)
4. Of Grand Design (12:04)
5. One Perfect Moment (5:17)
6. All in All (8:10)
7. No End to Begin (12:27)

Total Time: 61:50

Line-up:

* Kurdt Vanderhoof / guitar
* Ronny Munroe / vocals
* Bill Raymond / drums & percussion
* Kerry Shacklett / keyboard
* Bobby Ferkovich / bass

Links:

www.myspace.com/prestoballet

www.prestoballet.com/

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