THE LADY AND THE LION AND OTHER GRIMM TALES I

The multi-national recording project The Samurai Of Prog shows no signs of slowing down. In recent years we've had many many albums of TSOP and related, such as the solo album of Kimmo Pörsti, and The Guildmaster project with its folk orientation. The American core member Steve Unruh has been less, if at all, involved on several of those recent albums, but on this new release his contribution is very central. This time the album concept -- for which a sequel is undoubtedly to be expected later this year -- is built on the fairy tales of Brothers Grimm. As a literature lover I find that quite appealing to start with. It's nice to have the plot summaries of the tales in the booklet, but in the end I'm not happy of the way the story-telling occasionally dominates the compositions. I'll come to that later.

The instrumental opening track 'Into the Woods' composed by keyboardist Alessandro Di Benedetti (Mad Crayon, Inner Prospekt) is very charming in its airy melodic approach reminiscent of Camel -- ah, the flute! -- and Spectral Mornings -era Steve Hackett. 'The Three Snake-Leaves' (9:43) written by Chilean prog composer Jaime Rosas with Unruh's lyrics captures the tale's drama effectively. The music is very dynamic, at times heavy, and there are gorgeous soli for various instruments. Unruh's vocals remind me of early Marillion and Fish at his most dramatic (e.g. 'The Web' for the whispered section). Then comes another instrumental, 'Iron John' composed by Ton Scherpenzeel (Kayak). He was a core member in The Guildmaster, and also here he added some Old Music flavor although the track rocks too. This far the album is just as satisfying as one has learnt to expect from these hard- working guys and their contributors.

The latter half leaves me less impressed and a bit frustrated to be honest. The solo piano title piece by TSOP's long- time contributor David Myers is beautiful all right (I hear a slight pop ballad flavor à la Billy Joel, which is not a bad thing), but it is sandwiched by two vocally over-theatrical pieces where the narrative level gets way too dominant in my opinion. 'A Queen's Wish' (Di Benedetti/Unruh) is based on the fairy tale of Snow White, and Steve Unruh's vocals are accompanied by Phideaux's Valerie Gracious who acts as the mean queen. This is the album's longest track (11:36) and it contains excellent prog sections, but, as the vocals are mostly either narrative or pure voice acting, I can't help thinking of the audiovisual Disney fairy tales released in my childhood. In other words, the fine music becomes painfully secondary to the shamelessly melodramatic story telling. 'The Blue Light' (composed by Octavio Stampalia of Jinetes Negros) suffers from the same feature. Valerie reappears as a witch.

So, this time my rating is lower than for TSOP releases usually (five stars haven't been a rarity!), but I want to underline that it's mainly because of my disliking for the over-theatrical, story-telling oriented approach especially on two songs. This album is also relatively short compared to many preceding albums. The length in itself is not essential, but the lesser amount of quantity means there is less stuff to be fully charmed by. That said, the best TSOP albums such as Toki No Kaze are IMHO fantastic symphonic prog all the way.

THE SAMURAI OF PROG is a multinational symphonic prog rock project dating back to 2009, led by Finland-based, Italian composer and bassist Marco Bernard, with permanent members: Steve Unruh on vocals, violin, flute and guitars, and Kimmo P'rsti on drums and percussion ' along with a raft of guest musicians and vocalists ' many who have appeared on earlier releases. THE LADY AND THE LION, released in May, is volume one of a new series of based on the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.

As someone fairly new to the project, I found much to enjoy with the ensemble work across the relatively short, 6- track, 42 minutes album duration. Bernard's bass and Porsti's drums drives through most tracks impressively, with Unruh's violin and flute and guitar lovely additions throughout.

Into the Woods is an atmospheric introduction to our journey into the world of magic with the whispered 'Once Upon a Time' vocal welcoming us into the concept and album series. The Three Snake Leaves is even better, with Unruh's vocals combining well with some powerful and dynamic instrumental prog, with retro keyboards mixing fluidly with soaring guitar runs, driving bass and violin and flute supporting this mini-epic. Iron John is an uplifting, cinematic instrumental, written by Kayak's Ton Scherpenzeel, with glorious sweeping keyboard and some moving violin to end with. Long-time collaborator, David Myers, delivers a beautiful and melodic solo piano piece, The Lady and the Lion later on, as well.

However, the two narrative-led tracks: A Queen's Wish and Blue Light, might be more of an acquired taste for many symphonic prog listeners. A Queen's Wish is a very literal rendition of the tale of Snow White ' and unfortunately the excellent instrumental work (which is impressive) is rather dominated by the theatrical vocals and spoken words throughout. Phideaux's Valerie Gracious has a powerful, expressive voice, but in this context, her Kate Bush- like, Evil Queen portrayal feels like it is akin to a commentary over a provincial theatre or children's television Christmas pantomime. Blue Light closes the album and fares a little better, but still suffers from that same melodramatic vocal style at times. However, if you are at ease with that story-telling approach from similar concept prog releases from other artists (as many are), you might have no reservations and enjoy the approach ' as musically, the album cannot be faulted.

The second volume is entitled THE WHITE WITCH and is due out in July. If they continue with the strong compositional work and can find a better balance between the impressive instrumental symphonic prog, and restrain the theatrical vocal performances, the Grimm Tales series of albums might be worth persisting with.

(From The Progressive Aspect - A Different Aspect)

The Samurai Of Prog is a Finnish prog project that evolved from the collaboration between the Finnish Colossus magazine and the French prog distribution mail-order Musea. Between 2011 and 2024 The Samurai Of Prog released more than 10 albums, this review is about a 2021 effort entitled The Lady And The Lion And Other Grimm Tales I. The huge list of guest musicians includes Dutch master Ton Scherpenzeel and Chilean keyboard wizard Jaime Rosas (Entrance and Jaime Rosas Cuarteto).

1. Into The Woods (3:07) : The intro features tender piano and wailing violin, then halfway a slow rhythm with flute, synthesizers, and finally the sound of the intro, a wonderful instrumental start.

2. The Three Snake Leaves (9:43) :This long track starts mellow featuring intense violin work. Then the climate turns into very dynamic featuring lots of bombastic eruptions and excellent interplay, and an outstanding rhythm-section. The music is embellished with strong work on synthesizer, heavy guitar, violin and flute, this is trademark The Samurai Of Prog, I love it!

3. Iron John (5:58) : First a slow rhythm, blended with dreamy synthesizer runs and mellow flute. Then a mid-tempo, strongly coloured with classical orchestrations, to me it sounds like a rock opera now. Next a cheerful interlude featuring the distinctive tin-whistle, blended with snare drums, and brass, then a fiery guitar joins. In the end a sumptuous part with propulsive drums and Mellotron violins, then the mighty Hammond joins, wow, very exciting prog!

4. A Queen's Wish (11:36) : This epic composition is mainly built upon storytelling, by a male and female voice (evoking Kate Bush), embellished with fine work on guitar, synthesizer, violin. Finally a moving guitar solo. I am pleased with the instrumental parts, but not really with the vocal parts, too theatrical, not matching with the instrumental interludes. As if I am listening to two totally different bands, trying to jam together. At some moments the music fails to keep my attention, that doesn't happen very often when I listen to The Samurai Of Prog releases!

5. The Lady And The Lion (3:59) : This short track delivers delicate Grand piano, the classical side of the band.

6. Blue Light (6:48) : This song sounds like a blend of prog (instrumental parts with outstanding work on guitars and keyboards), folk (twanging acoustic guitar and flute) and a rock opera (theatrical vocals, bombastic brass in the finale), a bit unbalanced in my opinion.