Album Reviews

Issue 2025-005

Sam King — The Displaced

Scotland
2024
42:14
Sam King - The Displaced
Neu Trik (5:45), Wreckage (9:14), Hiding In Plain Sight (4:31), Displaced (6:43), Scintilla Absent (4:50), Convergence (11:11)
6
Greg Cummins

One of the intriguing aspects about many new progressive rock releases is the ability of a relatively new entrant into the arena to harness the collective talents of a number of guest musicians. Whether that be for a single song or a whole album is a moot point. When you can arrange to have a handful of guests appearing on your debut album, it is certainly a minor achievement to say the least. Let's see if such an input into Sam King's first album lives up to the standards set by those musicians' own music. Adam Holtzman (Moog: Steven Wilson, Miles Davis), Randy Mc Stine (guitar: Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson), Derek Sherinian (Nord Synth: Dream Theater, Planet X) all contribute a worthy solo on one track while Cameron Smith plays bass on three songs. Sam contributes drums, guitars, bass, keyboards, piano, violin, trombone and all songwriting duties.

To quote a few details from the album cover, Sam has been influenced by the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Kate Bush, Paul Simon and The Delgados. That is quite a diverse list but as I have not heard too much from the Delgados, I'll have to take Sam's word for that. I'm not hearing too much influence from Paul Simon or Kate Bush either so will have to settle for an over arching concept that may be all Sam's own doing. This is certainly a creative, yet abstract release that may or may not appeal to everyone but let's see where this all leads.

Neu Trik is a somewhat quirky opener with a simple beat book-ended by a stop/start style of playing that did little for me although Derek's solo near the end of the song is impressive. Sam's vocals, while not out of tune are also not exactly what I am used to hearing. It's the repetitive, droning style of singing that did little for me.

The title of the next track, Wreckage says it all really. There is a ridiculous number of sections during this 9-minute song that really defy logic or physics. I'm all for musicians trying to compose music with complex time signatures and playing with a better degree of dexterity than your bog-standard 3-minute party pop song, but I do like to see something holding the entire song together. I didn't really hear that through the song but perhaps many more listens will sway my opinion slightly.

Hiding In Plain Sight is a slower, more contemplative song that certainly fits the more predictable song format and formula but again, I like more meat on the bone with my music. On this track, Sam sounds vaguely similar to Tim Bowness with a breathier vocal delivery. The moody mellotron sounds in the background help to keep things floating along nicely however.

Displaced is a grungier, driving style of affair and is more representative of what befits the multi faceted genres of industrial metal, art-rock, noise rock and electro-industrial. These perfectly pinpoint the style that applies to the sound of the Nails so it's easy to recognise the obvious influences here from the Americans' earlier albums. I also hear snippets of a djent influence here and there.

Vocally, I am not finding too much to cheer about with this album. Sam's voice and singing style is really an acquired taste and while he doesn't expose any great weaknesses it's not a voice that I believe will find a lot of fans. As far as his musicianship is concerned, he is certainly a talented player and utilises many instruments very well.

This is certainly an adventurous and challenging listen but at the end of the day, I still hanker for something to hold onto for longer than a few seconds before being swept away with yet another diversionary tactic that doesn't seem to hold anything together. The musicianship is not being called into question here. It's the extremely diverse tangents that each passage of music explores before it tries to find its way back home that I am finding harder to detect and appreciate. Sometimes it gets there and at other times, it totally misses the front door. Complexity in music is what a lot of us progsters like but on this outing, I'll have to pass the baton onto someone else who may favour this style of music more than I do.

My Arrival — Lost 3mbers

Netherlands
2024
46:19
My Arrival - Lost 3mbers
A Mind Caves (2:04), Alone (4:40), Sleep Of No Dreaming (4:29), Rock (5:49), Starfall (4:58), So Close (6:01), Lost 3mbers (7:08), Castaway (3:22), Your Voice (4:19), At The Aphelion Of Faith (3:29)
8
Ignacio Bernaola

When I saw this album among the ones we receive at DPRP to review I picked it immediately because My Arrival sounded familiar. I was right, because we reviewed it four years ago and our colleague Stefan gave the album Satur9 & Indigo the perfect score. I was really curious about this new album and I have also had the opportunity to revisit that previous one. To be honest I like that album a lot and a little more than this one.

Lost 3mbers is again an immersive auditory experience that showcases the band's mastery of storytelling through elegant music. Building on the foundation laid by that previous release, this new work dives further into the emotional spectrum, exploring profound corners of the human soul with a blend of melodic and experimental styles. It also follows a similar structure, having short songs that can live independently, although I recommend to play the whole album to get a better idea of what the band wants to show here.

From the very start, Lost 3mbers distinguishes itself with its detailed production and a great overall sound. Layers of haunting melodies and atmospheric guitars create a soundscape full of nuance that you will discover after a few listenings. The album opens with A Mind Caves as an intro, giving way to the song Alone, which encapsulates the essence of the album: a compelling mix of melancholy and hope. I can identify some similarities with John Mitchell´s projects Kino and Lonely Robot.

The lead vocals remain a highlight of the album. While this dynamic approach echoes the vocal prowess showcased in Satur9 & Indigo, it feels more restrained and deliberate in this new album. One of the most intriguing aspects of Lost 3mbers is its implicit narrative. While it doesn't follow a strict storyline, there is an emotional thread that ties the tracks together.

Musically, Lost 3mbers displays also great versatility from the band and navigates various stylistic territories without losing its core identity. I bet Steven Wilson´s fans will enjoy this album. At least those who prefer the not so progressive rock side of Mr Wilson. Check the song Castaway and tell me I'm wrong...

In conclusion, Lost 3mbers is a strong and evocative album that reinforces My Arrival's ability to blend emotion with sonic complexity. Although it doesn't quite reach the groundbreaking impact of Satur9 & Indigo, it stands as a worthy follow-up and a memorable contribution to a great year of progressive rock. An impressive effort that gets better listen after listen and also makes me wonder what will come next because I think this band can keep evolving a bit more and explore new musical territories.

The Round Window — Fram

UK
2024
23:19
The Round Window - Fram
The Silence (11:16), Fram (6:07), Hourglass (5:56)
9
Béla Alabástrom

The EP Fram is The Round Window's third release, after The Round Window and Everywhere & Nowhere. The core of Rich Lock (vocals), Thomas Lock (guitars, keyboards, vocals), and Jack Lock (drums) have assembled some of the finest musicians in prog (or any other genre), whose contributions enrich the sound enormously, adding warp and weft to the finely crafted and richly detailed tapestry which emerges. They are: Robin Armstrong (of Cosmograf fame, who also mixed, mastered and produced the EP), Gareth Cole (The Bardic Depths), Per Malmberg (Salva), Alistair Martin (Cosmograf) and Christopher Wilkinson (Afterthought).

The cover artwork continues the theme of previous albums with its visual play on the band's name. It depicts unforgiving snow-covered mountains with a single bright star in the midst of a vast cosmic expanse against a dark blue background, as if viewed through a ship's porthole (or a spyglass). It eloquently conveys the isolation and remoteness encountered by explorers venturing into uncharted territory. No human habitation or welcoming lights, simply nature's full and unsullied splendour, indifferent to individual fates, following its own course and rhythms. The CD has an abstract pattern like sea spray and beneath it is an image of waves and desolate unrelenting grey like the view from the Antarctic shore, evoking a timeless liminal space.

The EP consists of three tracks, which are not intended to appear on a future studio album. Thematically, they are linked in part through being set in winter, in part by their focus on pausing to reflect on the past, looking back and reassessing what has truly been of value.

Fram opens with The Silence, an exquisite masterpiece of melodic prog shimmering in the void. For me this is the stand-out track, powerfully moving as it reaches its sublimely emotionally charged conclusion. A distorted metallic sound coalesces into a bell's single peal, followed by mournful symphonic strings, piano and choral effect keys forming a melody fraught with urgency and intensity. Slowing in pace in anticipation of Rich's radiant vocals like a sunbeam piercing the clouds to illuminate the protagonist, a soldier in the Great War during the Christmas truce of 1914, that fleeting respite revealing the agonising futility of the conflict.

The lyrics are reminiscent of a prayer, with the narrator addressing his father, the words also spoken softly in the background, as if his interior monologue had been rendered audible. He then requests that his mother keep a seat for him at the table, promising to return. Enveloped in silence and darkness, far removed from the cosy domestic scenes he recalls with fondness, he stands at the cusp of life and death in that brief interlude of preternatural calm, the breath he draws chilling his lungs. A guitar solo picks up and further concentrates the emotion coursing through him before the mood becomes more ominous, a prickling sense of foreboding carried on a distant rumble of thunder.

A dissonant bell and thunder compound the feeling of imminent threat and menace before the guitar and piano again intertwine, this time more subdued and almost hesitant. Whispers break through the narrative silence, reciting an inventory of contrasting states and emotions in a stark foreshadowing cut off abruptly by the recurrent motif of a bell's peal echoing, after which the initial melody resumes to dramatic effect and the narrator's thoughts turn back to the family he left behind, this time his sister, to whom he apologises for painting too rosy and reassuring a picture in his letters to her. This understated hint of regret is excruciating. His former life recedes, its glow of warmth guttering helplessly, as he recalls the bells summoning the faithful to celebrate midnight mass. However, the bells are "firing" and "tolling" with more sombre funereal connotations. Again, the single peal of a bell causes the melody to subside, falling away like the fading of consciousness preceding the brush of an angel's wings. In the poignant final moments as his life ebbs away, a piano plays a simple tune, as if in a parlour entertaining the visitors present, the innocent laughter and boisterous joy of carefree children playing borne in through the open window, the lost domestic bliss once taken for granted and presumed eternal, utterly heartbreaking.

The title track Fram (which translates as "forward") is taken from the name of the ship now housed in its own museum in Norway and which has gained legendary status with its three intrepid voyages of discovery. Fridtjof Nansen, chief scientist on the first, who failed in his ambition to become the first to reach the North Pole, contemplates Roald Amundsen setting out on his attempt to be the first to make it to the South Pole. The memories stirred up like embers are bittersweet.

His feelings of ambiguity are neatly captured by the question: "Do I wish you well?" Ultimately all human achievement and endeavour crumble to dust. However, posterity often redefines what constitutes success and Nansen was not ignominiously consigned to obscurity as he feared.

Fram is more hopeful in tone, redolent of the ship's buoyant forward motion as it cuts through the waves, weaving its way between the ice floes, mirroring the optimism of the courageous souls willing to uproot themselves from the comforts of civilisation and venture forth on a quest for the unknown, testing their mental and physical resilience to the limits. Pursuing the accolade of immortality (or its closest equivalent of going down in history and firing the imaginations of future generations of explorers).

The final track, Hourglass, draws the listener in with a wistfully delicate piano melody. The fine grains of sand flowing downward a literal and palpable manifestation of the passage of time, once again inviting us to look back over the past at the threshold between old and new. The scene brought to mind is a family gathering at the end of the year, the mood celebratory, raising a glass of good cheer to mark the transition and the fact that we have made it this far.

Although we can turn over the hourglass, our tenure is nevertheless finite and all too brief.

As Rich sings "Hear the call!" the focus zooms out to widescreen (the adjective which the band use to describe their music) with an uplifting bravura guitar solo (a second guitar further enhancing the emotional impact). We can only truly inhabit the present, though we seldom do, distracted by anxieties and fears which may never materialise. As the guitar fades at the 5 minute 19 mark, the piano resumes, in a moment of pure inspiration, as touching as it is unexpected. Beneath the glitter there is a tinge of loss, the smiling faces viewed as if in a snowstorm, the final flakes sparkling before they finally come to rest.

Fram is a luminous and meticulously crafted EP, an expertly cut gem of many facets sure to appeal to all lovers of melodic prog. Suffused with profound empathy and humanity, it is a richly rewarding experience proving yet again that The Round Window deserve to be far more widely known. Hopefully their appearance at Prog for Peart in 2025 will help to establish them as a compelling new voice within the prog community.

Sendelica — Requiem For Mankind

UK
2024
78:42
Sendelica - Requiem For Mankind
Cosmic Slop (In The Beginning) - Let There Be Light (22:58), Let There Be Life - Requiem For The Planet (20:37), The Downfall (16:02), Chaos - Requiem For Mankind (19:05)
7
Mark Hughes

This year sees the twentieth anniversary of the formation of the Welsh psychedelic band Sendelica. In that time they have released an astonishing 48 albums, and they have a bewildering total of 80 releases listed on their Bandcamp page page. This new album is the final instalment of a series of studio albums examining the relationship between man and religion (And Man Created God), himself (One Man's Man), magic and myths (Man, Myth & Magic) and his future on the planet (Requiem For Mankind). Originally intended to just be a trilogy, this final installment was added as the third album seemed to lack any conclusions and left band leader Pete Bingham (guitars and electronics) with "a few niggling doubts, a few remaining questions. How will it all end for mankind, and for the planet Earth? The album grew out of necessity, a quest for answers where no answers existed!" All very intriguing but don't expect many in-depth answers from the quartet of albums as they are all instrumental!

Aside from Bingham, the core of the band includes Colin Consterdine (beats, synths), Glenda Pescardo (bass), Jack Jackson (drums) and Lee Relfe (saxophone) with special guest appearances from Santtu Laakso on keyboards and the mysterious Calli on vocalisations (which I have described as such as she sings very few actual words), just adding delightfully ethereal sounds to Let There Be Life - Requiem For The Planet. And it is with this track that we should start this review, and where anyone unfamiliar with the band should also start, as it is an absolutely magnificent piece of work. Very mellow and atmospheric it is a simply wonderful piece of music. Plenty of piano, sweeping synths, acoustic guitar and the delightful sounds of Calli extemporising above the music, this is the finest piece of wordless singing since Claire Torry laid down The Great Gig In The Sky.

The other tracks also have lots to offer. The Downfall is more overtly psychedelic with some frantic Bingham soloing, a restrained sax riff repeating at irregular intervals, a steady beat and some lovely organ work. The lengthy opener splits into two parts with the more ambient Cosmic Slop (In The Beginning), no relation to the Funkadelic song/album of the same name, perhaps being a tad overlong ten minutes but blossoming out into the more expansive Let There Be Light that slowly and carefully builds to a more satisfying conclusion. The final Chaos - Requiem For Mankind is a bit more towards the space rock side of things for the first seven minutes or so before a gentler string synth dominated section with piano and guitar drones provide a very eloquent requiem.

Although not remotely familiar with the band's extensive back catalogue, I have to say that Requiem For Mankind is a solid piece of work that satisfies on numerous levels and has inspired me to check out the other titles in this series and maybe even further back as they certainly seem to have plenty of good ideas that are seemingly undiminished by their proclivity. Well worth checking out!

Album Reviews