BENEATH THE SKIN (A TRANSGRESSIVE ROCK TALE)

I have to confess to not knowing many Latvian prog bands (okay, I don't know any) prior to receiving this album, but I see from their interesting web site (www.holylamb.lv) that they have previously released an album on the Italian Mellow Records. This is a concept based on the story of God creating the earth and sending rulers for each kingdom, and the struggle for the kingdom of music. It is a shame that there wasn't room to print the story in the booklet as it is interesting and certainly adds to the album, but at least the link to it is printed and the album also contains all of the lyrics as well as details as to which character is singing.

It is a hugely impressive album from start to finish, with more than enough on here to interest the proghead. It is an album that is very cinematic in concept and in some ways it has more in common with shows such as Jesus Christ Superstar than to many other prog albums. I found that right from the beginning I was very involved in the music as it is highly complex, bringing in not only different keyboard sounds but also moving from pop into complicated hard rock.

Different vocalists have been used to assist in the telling of the story and this all adds to the theatricality of the album as a whole. Gentle flute and harp lend some passages a gentle tranquillity that is certainly missing from other sections! This is by far the best album that I have heard from Periferic and one that I can heartily recommend to all lovers of prog.

Originally appeared in Feedback #73, Jun 03