+4626 - COMFORTZONE

I recently got into the music of Beardfish and I'm quite surprised by the lack of attention this final album has gotten. The mixture of styles on this album is just great, as well as the natural recording sound. You can hear endless references to groups in these track; both from the progressive rock (King Crimson, Supertramp, Gentle Giant) and heavy metal tradition (Blue Oyster Cult, Voivod, Thin Lizzy). The album does not feature those very heavy gritty metal songs of 'The Void', of which I can understand the controversy among fans. The album is however heavy, gritty and punchy enough to distinguish itself from other retro-prog groups. An all over the place retro-prog-metal track like 'Daughter / Whore' is great fun. The title track 'Comfortzone' is a great moody piece that evokes some King Crimson with a great thick Fripp-style melodic lead guitar. The brilliant main vocal melody helps to give this album a 'classic' feel. 'The One Inside'-parts evoke a Kansas type melodic feel ('Dust in the Wind') without any cheesiness. 'If We Must Be Apart' is a fifteen minute epic that is what you'd expect from Beardfish; a mash-up of all their progressive influences, yet no re-arrangement of known prog clich's. Its actually quite accessible as well. 'Ode to the Rock 'N' Roller' is the mandatory not-so-great song that every Beardfish seems to have, but since the first three sides of the 2LP are simply great I'm still left with enough album to call essential.