ABOVE CIRRUS

PRR is back with another fantastic album! Above Cirrus is a natural continuation of their last effort Eupnea, expanding the horizons with a heavier sound, electronic elements and fresh new ideas.

Our Prism is a fantastic opener that quickly sets the mood of the following songs, with tribal drum patterns, followed by some of the heaviest guitars by PRR and some harsher vocal mixed up with their tradicional beach-boys vocal harmonies.

New Kind of Evil is a natural follower with a much more proggy esque and taking advantage of the light x heavy dichotomy through its 8 minutes lenghty-time.

Next song is Phantom, which is really short and a more streamlined material. Electronic elements are proeminent but the mix here is much more interesting than any of AVO or H&A material. The final chorus is definitely the hightlight of the song.

Cruel Deliverence feels like a mix of Porcupine Tree and Pink Floyd, starting slowly with a great crescendo towards to mid section. The finale is very PT-ish with a nice guitar solo.

Scream Sideways is the longest song of the album where every second is not wasted, like the amazing Eupnea epic from the previous album. It has a big pink floyd esque and, while there are vocals, its structure is very much instrumental, exploring all kinds of dynamics and elements culminating in an explosive and very heavy finale.

Dead Butterfly is the third single of the album and definitely a banger, with it's explosive guitar riffs, lovely chorus and electronic beats.

The album then closes with Lucid, which is a melancholic song that closes the album with a beautiful final crescendo.

So glad to see these creative musicians keeping at it after their previous ten-year break before 2020's Eupnea reunion.

1. "Our Prism" (3:34) awesome heavy prog soundscape with great, powerful singing and textures. Great opener. A top three song for me. (9/10)

2. "New Kind of Evil" (8:32) feels like something found on the cutting room floor from after the Dark Third sessions. Odd pieces spliced together with incomplete-feeling development throughout. (17/20)

3. "Phantoms" (3:51) interesting electronic opening giving this a 1980s sound but once the multiple voice tracks join in and chorus is presented it starts to click. Love drums effects and aural twists and textures in the second and third minutes. Gives me a kind of 21st Century Nirvana meets Bowie feel. Another top three song. (9/10)

4. "Cruel Deliverance" (5:56) a song that seems to start without a beginning, to appear/form as if out of nothing, and then to develop chaotically, as if without a plan or without intention. Truly an interesting feel! And yet it comes together behind the repetitive choral delivery of the title phrase. Good stuff. Interesting eerie stuff in the end recitation. (8.75/10)

5. "Scream Sideways" (10:10) great four-minute intro reminiscent of the Dark Third atmospheres-into-heavy prog soundscapes. Not quite as compelling once the first vocal section takes over, but then, at 5:50 a full-on left turn into PINK FLOYD territory takes over before the heavy guitars, raspy vocals, and rich multi-layered harmony vocals join in. To add to the oddness of this composition, the vocal chorus fades at the end of the seventh minute, replaced by a hollow drum machine, which then fades, and then bluesy-heavenly piano play with ethereal multi-voiced (gong- like) vocals over the top before a very heavy MOTORPSYCHO-like instrumental passage takes over at the 9:00 mark. I've got to admit: this is not a song structure I would have predicted from PRR or any band. Risky, brave, and odd. Does it work? I'll tell you after another five or ten listens. (17.25/20)

6. "Dead Butterfly (7:09) for the first 1:10 we are treated to piano with gorgeous mutli-track, multi-voiced harmonized vocals. Then heavy guitar chords crash in to help usher in the drums, keys, bass, and guitars for the main body of the song (and the future choruses). The verses are then sung over electro-pop synth fabric with drums and Jon's very heavily treated lead vocal. The electronica sounds and textures used here are quite unusual: I'm not sure if they're retro or totally fresh/new. Some cool codas and diversions within. I find it hard to get past the near-Led Zeppelin/Collective Soul guitar chord phrasing is a bit hard to get past though--even though you eventually get used to it. (13.25/15)

7. "Lucid" (6:49) piano and Jon's solo voce open this one before cool power up segues into great song construct-- great balance between power and delicacy, emotion and atmosphere. Plus, incredible b vox by Chloë. Definitely a top three song for me. (13.5/15)

Total Time 46:01

More than Eupnea, the band is definitely back on track--back to realizing the potential displayed by their 2003 debut, The Dark Third. I only wish we could hear more of the lovely voice of Chloë Alper in the lead, but, still, the rich harmony vocal arrangements here are way better than Eupnea and almost as good as those from the early 2000s. And the sound engineering and production here is a big step up from Eupnea. Not sure what to make of all the vocal clips at each song's ending--what is the band trying to say/convey here?

B/four stars; not enough to make this a universal recommendations for all, but it is an excellent prog record that many people will love.

The time has come for me to review this album. I'm not particularly happy about this, but here it is:

I'm a huge fan of Pure Reason Revolution and I've seen them live a couple of times. I like supporting the bands that I enjoy listening to and it made me sad to hear of their break-up after their third album. I was very happy to hear they'd regroup and record another album a few years later, even if my expectations were low due to the quality of their third album. However, they pulled out all the stops and released Eupnea, which I loved. It was lovely hearing PRR successfully recapture the essence of The Dark Third and push it.

On the other hand, we have Above Cirrus. The album is a swing and a miss and there's very little to recommend here. Annoyingly, PRR seem to be, once again, trying to gain ground in the alt-rock scene instead of sitting comfortably where they excel - the prog-rock scene.

The album is plagued with half-baked ideas that should've been fleshed out or at least injected with a little more passion. There are very few memorable riffs or vocal harmonies, and the sound textures and instrumental sections are dull.

PRR has the bad habit of burying good or even excellent riffs under noise or bad production, which is evident in Our Prism. What's wrong with crystal-clear, heart-stopping riffs?

New Kind of Evil is mid-tempo for most of the song and it drags on for a while. This is another feature of this album - songs that should've been shorter have been elongated, but since there's no actual content there it just feels like the song never ends.

Phantoms is another bad decision. PRR have tried the pure techno thing a few times and it rarely works. In fact, it's one of the reasons for their downfall upon release of their third album. Give this pure techno stuff up already, a whole song of it doesn't work with your fan base.

All I have to say about Cruel Deliverance is that it is exactly like New Kind of Evil - boring and overlong.

Scream Sideways is the one song on this album that I like. It's got an interesting structure and some cool sound textures. The breaks are also very cool. That funky and spaced-out section is my favorite thing on this album. Having said that, it's not as fleshed-out as it should be and ends abruptly. I wanted more!

Lucid has some cool moments, but nothing to write home about.

On the whole, it seems this album needed to sit in the oven for a little longer before recording began and it does seem like PRR needed to put a little bit more passion into it. Better riffs, catchier vocal harmonies and lines, and funner instrumental breaks filled with content would've definitely helped. Here's hoping the next one will hark back to The Dark Third/Eupnea again.

PURE REASON REVOLUTION is the British rock band formed in 2003 distilling catchy and complex modern rock, space and post rock, crazy vocals, heavy guitar riffs, unhealthy progressive rock on grunge rock, on the border between PINK FLOYD , PORCUPINE TREE, LED ZEPPELIN and SMASHING PUMPKINS see NIRVANA. 10 years after their separation, this 2nd, 5th album since their debut, surfs between pop, new wave, electro and metal, but let's take a closer look.

'Our Prism' starts heavy with tribal pads and vibrating synth, nervous/spoken vocals, screaming and a changing tempo, modern electro psychedelic metal and innovative heavy riff. 'New Kind of Evil' change of sound with a melancholy atmospheric title; soft piano and explosion of synthetic sounds for a time then fusion of the two; Jon's voice wants to be moving and nervous in function, this hybrid side like a Tesla propels us from one to the other without time for reflection, a giant post-apocalyptic finale. 'Phantoms' for a radio edit heard in Paris, electro-disco atmosphere with airy Bowie voice, on an overboosted NEW ORDER, a darker DEPECHE MODE with progressive synth lines in the middle; supercharged post-electro; the final bass sends heavy, becomes hovering, prog and continues on 'Cruel Deliverance' post alternative tendency, mixed vocals for a dreamy relaxing title; it goes up on an atmosphere where the bass and the organ à la PINK FLOYD tumble on a solo worthy of a lively PARADISE LOST, always a spoken finale worked and...

'Scream Sideways' follows with 10 minutes of angelic bliss; choirs, piano for the solemn instrumental intro, rhythmic and complex breaks, experimental composition confirming the progressive side, a little on the orchestrations of ALAN PARSONS and SMASHING PUMPKINS; it's divine, oriental, tribal, electro, à la MOTORPSYCHO that I love; it rises in fusion on a NINE INCH NAILS, PINK FLOYD's 'Echoes' break, funky vocals for an incredible time then dark atmosphere, crystalline piano and choirs again before the explosive finale in 380 volts. 'Dead Butterfly' takes us back down, mixed choirs of three voices on a piano, the imprint of a PORCUPINE TREE emerges here but it's PRR much louder, more crazy and Jon leaves to sing on Billy's voice Corgan, sumptuous; distorted, aggressive, boosted sound, between light and dark, unhealthy and tribal, enjoyable what, the ultimate title leading to 'Lucid' melancholy melody where the dark combines with the light, where the voice mixes pleasantly with the instruments and backing vocals with the bewitching Chloë; condensed piece of electro rock art that PRR takes to the sky; the 2nd third rises, breaks, starts again, starts again in a divine way with continuous changes of the tempo. PURE REASON REVOLUTION released a short album with chained titles, a good point. PRR has mixed the substantial musical marrow of the metal, synth, electro and progressive sound that all progians dream of hearing... A dark, innovative, devastating fusion associated with clear music from which each note vibrates in your interior relentlessly.

My first intention was to meticulously discuss every song of this album and then give my overall view on it. But I decided against it because I would repeat myself constantly. And I didn't want to invest so many words and time on this one, to be frank.

This album is well crafted by great musicians. There will certainly be an audience for it. I'm not one of these people.

It all feels flat, much like an AOR version of previous bands. And it's all so predictable. I gave it multiple listens, but the enjoyment did certainly not increase.

2 stars from me. There certainly will be fans for this.

Pure Reason Revolution -like many modern prog bands- are aware that it is very difficult to innovate formally (melodies, rhythmic structures, harmonies, etc.), therefore they decide to put a special emphasis on sound, textures and nuances. that they managed to create by superimposing the different instruments; that's where the 'progressive' comes from in this type of band.

If we start to analyze each of the instruments we will realize its formal simplicity. starting with the guitars that build the songs from small licks, and dense riffs -close to the heaviest porcupine tree- that give the impression of having been created from the same notes; easy bass lines and easily recognizable drum beats; and finally the pop harmonies and vocal lines reminiscent of the Beach Boys. All this adorned with electronic sounds and small keyboard appearances.

It is only when the band puts all these elements together, playing and experimenting with the different distortions, sound effects and other production elements, that we can witness their talent and creativity. The record would lose steam without the deep echoes of the drums or the different layers and tuning tones of the guitars. In addition to the interesting harmonic games of the masculine-feminine voices that, on the other hand, fulfill the melodic function in the disc and therefore of greater identification.

Interesting proposal from a band that seeks to experiment and extend certain limits while still sounding pop and accessible. They will certainly have to be tracked down.