CAPTAIN BEYOND

How this band flew under the radar like it did, I will never know, but their self titled 1972 debut will live on forever as a brilliant work of hard-rock prog! Captain Beyond was a super group of sorts, including members of well known bands Deep Purple (vocalist Rod Evans) and Iron Butterfly (guitarist Rhino Reinhardt and bassist Lee Dorman), it seems baffling that this band got such little recognition. This aside, the album is a true joy to listen to. The album flows brilliantly through many recurring themes, lots of great guitar work and mind-blowing drumming (See Mesmerization Eclipse).It is comprised of many short tracks, but many of them can be considered one song (Tracks 1-3, 6-8, 9-13) and perhaps if they were condensed into longer tracks prog fans would have paid more attention. The music itself is usually fast paced hard-rock, with some cosmic interludes and off kilter jams, very complex and jazzy at times. The trio of musicians create a staggering amount of sounds considering the amount of instruments used. A highly underrated (and highly recommended) album!

-4.5/5