HEROIC MATERIALS

COSMOGRAF known since 2011 with 'When Age' distills a prog rock à la BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST, PINK FLOYD hovering between neo, prog metal and melodic rock of the 70's. This 9th post-pandemic album is supposed to talk about the great works to avoid a dark end and it is Robin at the helm of his home studio who distills these prog-moving titles to which I will add some snippets of GENESIS. A progressive concept declined in interlocking titles to hope for a better life than that of this former Spitfire fighter, stunned and horrified by the cruelty of Life. So let's take a closer look.

"I Recall" for the opening, all in delicacy, voice and piano and choirs, misty clarity and this Wallian plane bringing "Heroic Materials" in three parts for a majestic, solemn and heavy sound at the same time. I find the melody of BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST on this epic title, an anthem where the piano is held by Danny of BIG BIG TRAIN; at 5 minutes it goes up with heavy guitar, dark choirs, story on the activities of May disillusioned pilot; an organ as a break, voice-overs and we suddenly find ourselves in 'The Wall' revisited at the vocal level, solemn musical influence and Gilmourian guitar solo; PINK FLOYD has a hidden son? The finale takes up the hackneyed solo voice theme to amp up the emotion and show the extent of Kyle's orchestral and rhythmic drumsticks. "Industry" sad vocal interlude, 'Final Cut' mode, piano-violin declination before continuing with "British Made" with a torn vocal à la Franck CARDUCCI on an acoustic à la 'Pigs'; Robin's solo is fresh, ethereal, touching; it brings greatness to this symphonic and sad title at the same time, striking us with its Anglican melody à la Charisma until the last touch. "Mary" and another plane in the distance for a sad WATERS-style melody about the hero's vanished first love, BJH are getting further away now.

"Blinkers" continues with the piano and Robin who draws his voice on the COSMOGRAF sound there, it suits him well. "If Things Don't Change" comes on a newer sound, mysterious Wilsonian voice, then to the distant WATERS; text on the exhaustion of fuels, on the death of his entourage and melody between darkness and hope; the riff with the organ leads on the tracks of a tortured Steve WILSON, a crescendo allows a more rock orientation with an XTC sound before the dark side returns, a bell in the distance; note the crystalline guitar solo which ends in a beautiful way and sends on "The Same Stupid Mistake" to recognizable blah blah blah (yes I wanted to do that one) and always a haunting melodic air which gives hope for clarity with this redundancy in the chorus. "Regretful Refrain" arrives, the guitar taking the lead on the Wallian cinematic with plane attacking; a moving instrumental, the rising notes can make you cry, it's simple and beautiful; the voice-over lets Robin talk more than sing, plaintive; the expected solo shows Robin's expert work: he does everything on the album but above all he does very beautiful solos bringing emotion easily; final which rises, I let you guess which group I think of on high voices. "A Better World" for the end, it's raining, we hope...a better world on the melancholy beach, the one that kills with choirs, rise and dazzling solo.

COSMOGRAF finally Robin, combines here some great titles interspersed with musical interludes to land before facing another melancholy melodic air. This association makes it possible to amplify the sound rendering and to give a progression in the album, something which would not have been so obvious without. Here the narration gives intensity and the soft then nervous instrumental parts amplify the effect; the texts are very dark but also too realistic. 'Rattrapante' was very heavy prog and had lost some of the soul of COSMOGRAF, this latest opus gives it back its legitimacy. It's up to you to see if you still want to dive into the neo-prog universe of the 80s and offer yourself a singular musical regression.