PLOT ARMOR

A band that I'd only recently discovered (in late 2024), that has producing very high quality and quite unique progressive rock music since 2010 when it was using the name Interrobang. Their only previous album was released in 2013, an album called A Tale of Two Interrobangs.

1. "Pyromancer" (6:39) a very odd and unique combination of sounds and styles: seemingly jazz bass, some almost Caribbean rhythms though the drummer is totally playing prog style, then with operatic male and female vocalists singing over the top in a watered down style that I can only compare to bands like Koenjihyakkei and To-Mera. Interesting! The mix and engineering feel a bit off with some tracks perhaps too compressed while others have an entirely different feel. (8.75/10)

2. "Believerbot" (6:36) angular prog music with very odd lyrics delivered in a theatric style that reminds me of ESTRADASPHERE, SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM, and even BEARDFISH. The sound issues I noted in the previous song continue here with some of the tracks feeling like their musicians may have never met one another in the real 3D universe. The musicianship, however, is excellent on this complex piece of avant prog. (8.875/10)

3. "Muad'Dib" (9:26) opens with two layers of music: the bass, drums, and rhythm guitar playing a stop and go rondo of staccato "limbo"-like jazzy music while an effected electric guitar strums his slow heavily-distorted chords in a universe somewhere over the top. In the second minute the guitar up top is replaced by co-lead vocalists Daniel Johnson and Anastasya Korol, weaving their well-trained voices in a very well-executed harmonic thread with periodic "chorus" sections in which the musicians below turn off the staccato and blast out some loud chords beneath Dan and Ana. At the four-minute mark the music takes a turn toward some kind of Indo-Arabian-influenced dance-trance pattern within which Ryan Bradley's lead guitar is woven within Dan and Ana's now-incomprehensible (wordless) ecstatic vocal performance. This is so cool! The section ends with a kind of Fiddler on the Roof scat finish. Then the music moves into a sultry/sexy Mediterranean jazz-dance motif in which Dan and Ana sing, still harmonizing with one another, as if in a kind of opium drug-stupor. What a song! Wow! This one's going to need multiple listens! (18.5/20)

4. "Sirens" (6:46) more unusual jazz-sounding ethnic jazz-rock music. Drummer Billy Petty's track(s) is left so untreated that it makes you wonder if he was recorded with one mic in the garage--or in the back yard. Daniel and Anastasya enter with another magical, mystical performance, still singing as if two heads of the same creature, this time with Ana in the lead, as they slowly sing as if trying to hypnotize us against our wills--as if they know what they're trying to do. In the sped up chorus (and thereafter) Daniel moves into the lead position while Ana switches to melodic floating vocalese in the background. When Daniel stops singing--replaced by the dreamy pedal steel guitar--Ana continues wafting her seductive and mesmerizing voice the entire time. I do believe that this band has just accomplished the most realistic version of a Siren "attack"! At least, it's the best that I've ever heard. Truly embodying the mythical women/creatures of Homer's conjuring. (14.25/15)

5. "Plot Armor" (8:31) led by a bouncy ChapmanStick-like electric keyboard chord play it appears that there are two women singing the harmonized duet but one may just be Daniel singing in a less operatic, more human tone. The music and even palette sound a lot to me like those of early iNFiNiEN--even into the Genesis-like instrumental passage in the middle: more the complexity and unusual jazz-tinged chord and rhythmic constructs used. Nice synth play/solo by Mathew Rakers in the sixth minute. Another song that took me multiple listens for full feeling. Were it not for the still odd sound engineering going on I would call this close to a perfectly rendered highly-sophisticated composition. In the end, I am convinced that the second voice is female; it would be quite a coup if it were another version of Anastasya: that kind of variety would certainly seal the stamp of skill and virtuosity for her talents. (19/20)

6. "Cattle Brand" (6:11) an odd, more stage-theatric song of more odd instrumental tracks backing a cabaret-like vocal duet from Daniel and Anastasya. I don't know if the band is low on fund or intentionally using the utmost-minimal amount of effects on their instruments (even in the engineering room) but the individual instruments are so starkly contrasting in their sound: electric bass plugged straight into the board, piano and drums (and even voices) recorded as if in a big stone room, guitars, though electrified, also quite minimally treated (perhaps with only a distortion pedal). The talent and unique creativity are present in megadoses, I guess I'm just hoping/wishing for a more cohesive (not so 'live in the living room') finished sound. (9/10)

Total Time 44:09

The conceptualization and musicianship are exceptional. The choices in sound quality are where I question the band.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of wonderfully refreshing and uniquely creative jazz-infused progressive rock music.