STILL THERE

"Still There", the first concept album in the career of the Berlin group CRYSTAL PALACE in thirty-one years of existence and only the ninth release for our Teutonic friends, four years after the somewhat disappointing "Scattered Shards", which followed it is true to the two excellent previous opuses "System of Events" (2013) and "Dawn of Eternity" (2016), as they say "you can't win or please every time"!

And this "Still There" is based on a true story, which in my opinion enhances its interest, a tragic event in the life of Yenz STRUTZ, climbing the stairs to the gazebo in a public park in his hometown BERLIN, when he saw the sentences "still alive", "still there" on each new floor, written a few minutes before his passage... A few days later, the revelation in the newspaper of a double suicide at this place... Inevitably the the kind of things that are indelibly etched in a man's memory.

One hundred and twenty-six marches, mostly instrumental, brilliantly open the album and install the atmosphere that will not leave us for seventy-seven minutes, we already feel an unparalleled darkness (8/10). The relatively calm "Leaving this Land" which follows, offers a proven Mindsian and Bowian touch in its title but also in its development with a monstrous bass guitar, we are close to the very high musical level (9/10). "A Plan" very rock, as much spoken as sung, with the six strings full gallop of Nils CONRAD and the keyboards of Franz KOHLER which are no less so (around the third minute), presents a CRYSTAL PALACE at the height of its art , much more complex than it seems at first sight (second third of the piece) before a progressive decrescendo to go to the end of the piece (9/10).

Small freshness break after its first twenty-two minutes of high flight with "Winter's End on Water", ballad without drums (except the last twenty seconds), welcome breathing (7/10) before starting again on violent good and heavy good with "Dear Mother" (from the Black Sabbath in a way), aired by a female voice (the mother?) (8/10). "Planned Obsolescence" is a mid tempo with a technoid connotation which gets a little carried away in its last quarter, nothing great but nothing bad either (8/10) on which is linked a powerful melodic rush "Orange Popsicle Sky" , voluntarily popizing (the hit of the album!) with a Franz KOHLER at the top of his keyboard art fed by a demonic sound, oufti my cousin! I love it (9/10).

Three short tracks in a row (less than five minutes each) are coming, "Shadows" also technoid and still quite violent, which I didn't really appreciate (6/10), then "A Scream from the Wall " which represents the wall annotations of the floors as Yenz progresses towards the top of the belvedere (7/10), also very energetic and finally "These Stairs" the most accessible of the three, in terms of melody, and this despite the blows of Nils' snouts, Franz's piano and keyboards judiciously softening the subject (8/10).

Then place the longest title of the work with "The Unquite Window" soft in opening with a welcome lace of acoustic guitar, a lyricism on edge or rather on edge of strings and keys, a piece which definitely propels CRYSTAL PALACE towards the upper echelons of progressive music (10/10), listen to the bass guitar on this track in particular...

Let's leave our German friends with the concluding and eponymous "Still There", the key word appearing on the wall on each floor, another mid tempo at its start which gains in dramatic intensity and energy as it progresses, remarkably and powerfully sung by Yenz STRUTZ (like a Damian WILSON), excellent track (9/10) to conclude an excellent disc, not easy to understand however given its duration and the subject evoked, many listenings being clearly necessary here to extract the substantial musical marrow.

The latest album from German neo-prog band Crystal Palace is a concept album based on a tragic event in bassist/singer's Yenz's life. One day he was climbing the stairs of a lookout in a public recreation area in his hometown of Berlin and saw the words "Still Alive" and "Still There" freshly written on the walls of each new floor. A few days later he read about a double suicide which had taken place on the day he saw the writings, and that became a story he could not get out of his mind so developed this album around what might have happened to those involved to get them to this point. This is a dark subject, and not one which has often been covered in prog music, and certainly not one to be taken lightly.

The colours in the booklet are all white/grey/black, with the lyrics superimposed on photos telling different parts of the story, while the background is included at the rear. Needless to say, the music behind this story is somewhat reflective, and while solidly neo-prog there are often more keyboards than one might expect from this style of prog. That is not to say that we don't get rock, but it is often abrasive and fitting in perfectly with the storyline. This is a deep piece of work, and it did take me quite a few listens before I felt I had got inside it, as the first time it just washed over me as I was not in the right frame of mind for it. It is dark, yet not always depressing, melancholic in places yet slightly more in your face in others.

This must have been a difficult album to bring together, as while the lyrics are a viewpoint, at the centre of this album is the true story of lives cut short. Attempting to be true to the concept without adding in too much colour or change must have been difficult and striking the balance between entertainment and producing something no-one would want to listen to is also challenging. I can imagine this album will have many detractors due to the subject matter and what Crystal Palace have attempted to achieve, but in reality, it is a complex and complicated piece of progressive rock with real depth.

I can't believe it has been more than 30 years now in Crystal Palace's existance. To function in obscurity for so long, it deserves respect. The band's sound has evolved over time, but for the last 20 years settled into a kind of melancholic neo-prog mode with mellow vocals but with occasional heavier bursts, of which there have been more over the last albums. The band is very balanced, with the synths and guitar complementing not outshining each other, focusing on atmospherics and melodicism. Points of reference may be a bleaker version of their German compatriots RPWL, and on this particular album, the moody American duo Disconnect (probably not a coincidence that a song here is titled, and similar in vibe to, Planned Obsolesence - just like a latter one's album!). "Still There" is a story-driven concept album, with the story being of bright hopes and suicide (a topic well-covered in rpog). Some songs may be listened to individually, and some are more of a mood setter/plot explaining pieces, but the correct recipe of course is to listen in continuity, as the flow of the album is quite well arranged.