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Ratings:
The * rating (½-5) is my personal, entirely subjective and completely partisan rating of the music.
There is, of course, no 'Tron rating.
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Deluge Grander Djam Karet Dream Theater |
Francis Dunnery Eccentric Orbit Electric Music |
Enchant Enslaved |
Ère G Etcetera |
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August in the Urals (2006, 71.03) ***½Inaugural BashAugust in the Urals Abandoned Mansion Afternoon A Squirrel The Solitude of Miranda |
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The oddly-named Deluge Grander have risen from the ashes of the Maryland-based Cerebus Effect, presumably with the intention of moving away from the fusion area. I have to say that they've achieved this with aplomb, producing, in August in the Urals, a full-on progressive album, although like so many modern efforts, a little editing may have been a good move. They wear their influences on their collective sleeves, with Genesis coming high on the list, although I definitely spotted some Happy the Man in places, particularly on opener Inaugural Bash. They're at their best when playing instrumentally, which is where (say) the exceedingly long Inaugural Bash wins out over the still quite long title track. Some nice (real?) Clavinet work on A Squirrel livens the piece up, although vocals are definitely not the band's strong suit.
Keyboard/guitar (and sometime vocal) man Dan Britton has told me that although they use Mellotron samples liberally, they're taken from an actual machine, rather than being third-party efforts from the M-Tron or whatever. They mostly sound very good, I have to say, with the usual strings/choirs/flutes being smeared over much of the album's length - this would probably be a TTTT effort, were it applicable. So, a pretty good modern prog effort, without any obvious neo- stylings (hurrah!); I suspect their second effort will sound more cohesive, and will probably be written over a shorter period of time. Not bad at all.
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A Night for Baku (2003, 59.56) ****Dream PortalHungry Ghost Chimera Moon Heads of Ni-Oh Scary Circus The Falafel King Sexy Beast Ukab Maerd The Red Thread |
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Djam Karet's 2003 album, A Night for Baku, doesn't actually credit 'Tron, and I've had it confirmed by the band that it's samples. It seems to be slightly more reflective than most of their work, particularly opener Dream Portal, which reminds one more of Pink Floyd than anything. As for the sampled 'Tron, it isn't overused, as usual with the band; strings on opening and closing tracks Dream Portal and The Red Thread, with rather unconvincing choirs on Hungry Ghost and Chimera Moon, particularly on the latter. So; another excellent album; are these guys incapable of playing badly?
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Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002, 96.24) ***½ |
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| The Glass Prison Blind Faith Misunderstood The Great Debate Disappear Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Overture About to Crash War Inside My Head |
The Test That Stumped Them All Goodnight Kiss Solitary Shell About to Crash (Reprise) Losing Time / Grand Finale |
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After their excellent Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes From a Memory (****½ - probably Dream Theater's most cohesive piece of work, despite its overindulgences), it's back to business as usual with their sixth full album, the lengthy double Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, which has more in common with the overblown Awake (***) than their better releases; far too many solos and far too few tunes, although it does have its moments. The Great Debate is not among them, however, being (seemingly) about embryo stem cell research, with plenty of spoken-word samples. It's difficult to tell what the band's stance actually is from the lyrics, though they seem to be sitting on the fence a little, which makes me wonder why they bothered. As many of our mothers have been known to say, "If you can't say anything pleasant, don't say anything at all".
I've been assured by Mike that the 'making of' video for the album shows third keyboardist Jordan Rudess (ex-Dixie Dregs) plonking away at a Kurzweil K2600xs while recording 'Mellotron' parts, those being so-so strings on Misunderstood and a choir part on Disappear; this doesn't actually surprise me in the slightest, but I hadn't previously had any firm evidence to back up my suspicions. The second disc is another concept piece, and I have to say, DT seem to work better in the long format; dunno why, but while this isn't as good as Scenes From a Memory, it's an awful lot better than anything on disc one. Plenty of choirs, too, though I don't think they're (pseudo-)Mellotron-generated, meaning the album has even less (fake) 'Tron than their other relevant release, Falling Into Infinity.
I'm assured there's a single 'Mellotron' track on their follow-up, the rather poor Train of Thought; I shall report back when I can be arsed to dig my copy out of storage.
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Let's Go Do What Happens (1998, 54.14) ***½ |
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| My Own Reality Sunflowers Perfect Shape Crazy is a Pitstop Jonah Riding on the Back I '95 Crazy Little Heart of Mine |
Home in My Heart Whoever Brought Me Here Revolution Give Up Your Day Job |
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Cumbrian Francis Dunnery split It Bites at the peak of their success, moving on briefly to Robert Plant's band before kicking his solo career off with '94's Fearless. Let's Go Do What Happens was his fourth release, and I've never been wholly sure about its inclusion on this site, due to its multiple credits for 'Doug Petty and his probable Mellotron'. Upon finally hearing said instrument it turns out to be, of course, samples, with the biggest giveaway coming at the end of opener My Own Reality, with an overly smooth, way over eight-second string chord that doesn't sound anywhere near as gritty as a real 'Tron.
As far as the album itself's concerned, it's quite aggressive singer-songwriter fare, by and large, with Dunnery using the stage (so to speak) as a platform for him to air his many grievances about, ooh, just about everything. Mind you, it's difficult to fault the sentiments behind tracks like Revolution or Give Up Your Day Job; I did the latter a few years ago and never looked back, but not everyone can just pack it all in and still get by. So, don't buy this expecting any genuine 'Tron, but it's not a bad album, and the samples are pretty decent.
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Attack of the Martians (2004, 45.49) **** |
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| Star Power Sputnik Attack of the Martians Part 1: Flying Saucers & Little Green Men Part 2: The Face on Mars Part 3: Martians Everywhere! Forbidden Planet Part 1: The Arrival (Innocence Lost) Part 2: The Intruder |
Part 3: The Krell Part 4: The Tempest/The Departure The Enemy of My Enemy |
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Attack of the Martians is a great little album I was introduced to earlier this year (2004), probably not long after its release. Instrumental progressive rock that pulls no punches, has integrity and refuses to compromise; why can't more bands be like this? The band consists of bassist Bill Noland, his wife Madeleine on wind-controller and keys, Derek Roebuck on more keys and drummer Mark Cella (from Pye Fyte), with no guitar. Five lengthy and involved compositions, with plenty of (remember this one?) MELODY, although there are a few moments where you think "Haven't I heard that bit somewhere before?" That's being churlish, though; this is an excellent album that I can recommend to anyone into inventive progressive rock.
A quick e-mail was enough to confirm that the album's 'Mellotron' use is definitely fake (OK, so that's one compromise), although the strings are extremely convincing. The album opens with a solo string part, reprised later in the track, and there are several male-voice choir interjections later in the album, although those samples are less successful. Bill tells me they're hoping to use a friend's 'Tron on the next album. Go on, you know you want to... Anyway; buy now.
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Psychics F.O. [EP] (1999, 13.22) ***Psychics F.O.Showstopper Let it Flow |
Electric Music (later Electric Music AKA) were a London-based outfit, whose pre-first album EP, Psychics F.O., features (credited) 'Mellotron' on two tracks. Showstopper's strings sounds genuine enough, but the game's up on Let It Flow, where a repeating rising string line moves into munchkinned squeakiness by its final notes. Musically, the whole EP can probably best be described as 'wistful', which is a whole lot better than 'horrible indie', which is what they'd become by 2003's The Resurrection Show album. Actually, this EP's sample-exposure makes me wonder just how genuine the 'Tron is on said album... Probably no way of finding out, but it has to now be in doubt. As far as this is concerned, it's a pleasant enough listen, but really rather inessential.
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Juggling 9 or Dropping 10 (2000, 64.24) **½ |
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| Paint the Picture Rough Draft What to Say Bite My Tongue Colors Fade Juggling Knives Black Eyes & Broken Glass Elyse |
Shell of a Man Broken Wave Traces Know That |
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Tug Of War (2003, 65.42/72.10) **½ |
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| Sinking Sand Tug of War Holding the Wind Beautiful Queen of the Informed Living in a Movie Long Way Down See No Evil |
Progtology Comatose [Some versions add: Below Zero (live)] |
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Enchant's debut album, 1995's A Blueprint of the World (***½) is actually rather good, being progressive metal without sounding too much like Dream Theater, although displaying a noticeable Rush influence. Sadly, it seems that their own sound has slowly been subsumed over the years into 'prog-metal by numbers', at least going by 2000's Juggling 9 or Dropping 10, which displays few signs of a band attempting to progress in any manner whatsoever. No, it's not all bad, but it's extremely derivative (the first notes of opener Paint The Picture are copped almost directly from Rush's Xanadu, of all things), overlong and, I'm afraid to say, rather dull, with the tracks merging into one long widdle-fest, with guitarist Doug Ott showing off a few too many times. 40 minutes of this might be just about acceptable; over an hour approaches torture. Oddly, the rather surprising Mellotron isn't played by keys man Mike Geimer, but by Ott and drummer Paul Craddick, with background strings on Bite My Tongue and something credited but entirely inaudible on Broken Wave. 'Strings' are credited on three tracks, too, but sound like real ones.
Two albums and three years later, Tug of War is, basically, more of the same, only fewer tracks spread over slightly more time, which is not a good thing. Far too many of Enchant's songs really don't have enough ideas to sustain their lengths, to be honest, although this album's best bits are generally better than Juggling 9's. I've also just realised: vocalist Ted Leonard's voice really grates after prolonged exposure - he sounds like he'd be just as happy in an AOR band; also not a good thing. New keyboard player Bill Jenkins doesn't get to play the 'Tron any more than his predecessor, with Doug Ott having another go on the naffly-titled Progtology on what are quite clearly rather poor 'Tron choir samples. 'Mellotron' indeed... As a result, I think it's more than likely that it's samples on Juggling 9, too, so that's where these are going.
So; two rather lacklustre albums, I'm afraid, although if you're into that prog metal thing, you may find them very listenable - certainly more so than Vanden Plas and their ilk. Dodgy 'Tron samples, too. Avoid.
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Monumension (2001, 59.40) ***½ |
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| Convoys to Nothingness The Voices Vision: Sphere of the Elements - A Monument Part II Hollow Inside The Cromlech Gate Enemy I |
Smirr Sleep: Floating Diversity - A Monument Part III Outro: Self Zero Sigmundskvadet |
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Below the Lights (2003, 46.21) ***½As Fire Swept Clean the EarthThe Dead Stare The Crossing Queen of Night Havenless Ridicule Swarm A Darker Place |
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Isa (2004, 51.07) *** |
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| Intro: "Green Reflection" Lunar Force Isa Ascension Bounded By Allegiance Biolet Dawning Return to Yggdrasill Secrets of the Flesh |
Reogenesis Outro: "Communion" (excerpt) |
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Enslaved seem to be yet another Scandinavian metal band who have discovered that it's more interesting to be interesting, keeping a foot in both the extreme and progressive metal camps, as have Opeth and Spiritual Beggars, amongst others. The end result of this cross-fertilisation is a slightly uneasy compromise between silly 'cookie monster' vocals (no, you don't sound 'scary') and other death metal clichés and complex, progressive riffery with refreshingly unusual song structures, although they're probably too heavy to appeal to your 'trad' prog fan.
I think Monumension is their sixth album, the band having been active through most of the '90s, and I believe it's the first to take this more progressive approach. There are no straightforward thrashers here, although they do slip into cliché territory every now and again. Most interesting track? Has to be closer Sigmundskvadet, which can only be described as, er, a Nordic tone poem with chanted vocals, 'tribal' drumming and octave guitar? Completely unique, anyway. Guest Dennis Reksten is credited with 'MiniMoog, vocoder, synths/effects', and the 'Mellotron' is apparently sampled, with flutes on Convoys To Nothingness, and strings on The Voices, Hollow Inside and Smirr, although none of it sounds that convincing, to be honest.
2003's Below the Lights carries on in a similar vein, unfortunately still featuring those rather silly vocals, although every bit as good musically. Opener As Fire Swept Clean The Earth actually opens with a 'Mellotron' string part, and heard solo like this, they're quite clearly samples, as can also be heard on Ridicule Swarm, sorting out the 'real/sample' debate for once and for all. The following year's Isa (would YOU name an album after a form of UK tax-free saving?), sadly, sounds like the band's 'fresh' approach is growing stale, with a plethora of pointless riffs blasting away like they were going out of fashion, but ultimately going nowhere fast. The only obvious 'Tron samples are the strings on Lunar Force, with most of the other string parts sounding like generic samples, all of which adds up to: if you're going to buy an Enslaved album, don't make it this one.
There's supposed to be another Enslaved 'Mellotron' album, 2006's Ruun, though I haven't heard it yet. Monumension is about the best of the above bunch, and is likely to appeal to the more adventurous prog and/or metal fan, who can deal with Enslaved's 'death' past. The Mellotron samples, however, are far from the most important thing about this album, so I really wouldn't bother on their account.
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Au-Delà des Ombres (2002, 46.10) ****La Course aux PapillonsLa Traversée La Rose de Stalingrad Infantes Mille Couleurs Au-Delà des Ombres Ardeur Ternie |
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Ère G are the brainchild of Robin Gaudreault, who plays just about everything, drums excepted, on his debut album, Au-Delà des Ombres. By and large, he's influenced by '70s progressive outfits from his region (Harmonium, Morse Code et al.), although bits of neo-prog leak through occasionally and disconcertingly. Overall, though, the album's excellent, with inventive song structures and unexpected melodic interjections; what more could you ask for?
I was actually fooled by the 'Tron samples (no!), until I read that he uses the M-Tron plug-in; very good at what it does, and holds up well without being buried in the mix, but there are plenty of working 'Trons in Québec... Anyway, recommended, but can we have some real 'Tron next time round, M.Gaudreault?
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Tales of Ardour & Deceit (2003, 59.38) **** |
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| The Song of Marsh Stig Premonition Deceit Despair Outlaw Songs Kentish Suite The Lady of Castela Inês de Castro Dom Pedro |
Lament The Ghost of Yang pt.I Ardour Nepotism War and Escape The Exit The Ghost of Yang pt.II |
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Etcetera (not to be confused with Québecois Et Cetera)'s second album, Tales of Ardour & Deceit, is a damn' good slice of post-millennial prog, mostly influenced by the '70s 'greats'; Songs has a distinct Gentle Giant feel to it, and the overall vibe is of a classy first-wave outfit with the odd modern bit thrown in to keep you on your toes. Much of the material's instrumental, although the vocal stuff's fine, too, and the instrumental work is excellent throughout. The band boast that they're 'the only active progressive rock unit in Denmark, as far as they know', to which I can say; almost the only full-on symphonic outfit I've ever heard from that country, although I don't know what Zaragon sound like.
Frank Carvalho plays guitar and keys (the band are only a trio), so I'm not sure how thay manage live, but he gets a fair bit of 'Tron samples (although he owns an M400) down here. Most of the 'Tron work is strings, with particularly fine work on Lament and The Exit, but there's a brief flute part in Kentish Suite and some coruscating choirs on The Ghost Of Yang Pt.I, too. Frank promises he's going to use his real M400 next time round, but until then...
