OF SILENT MAMMALIA PART II

The Ancestry Program neo-prog group with a melting pot sound brewing sublime symphonic prog; a 2nd guitarist and a horn section provided for their 3rd album, the story of the planet-saving whales.

"Mysticeti Ambassadors?" the mysterious intro, dark atmosphere of the abyss! "Path of Inspiration" with its fat riff and sax on the menu; typical, monotone voice, imposing drums which set off in a jazzy-prog atmosphere; the guitar solo on Saga: the brassy finale on EWF, hilarious and original. "Pangreta's Box" powerful with Ben surfing with his suave voice then growling; a cello break and the variation on neo-Floydian lands. "War Is Over" goes further; Kansas-style violin, blues, a warm Hammond organ, a Latin sound and an airy, enterprising piano, prog voice-overs with the eternal 'Never Surrender'; the space ending which introduces "Maria's Smile" with the abysmal intro, on a 'Grand Bleu' of spaces with flooding keyboards and guitars; the psychedelic side of Pink Floyd, airy melodic, a ballad exploring the black forest, a marshmallow solo, a symphonic climb with moving choirs.

"Ancestors" for the slap, return to neo prog metal, expressive with Ben mixing his melodic organ-death growl vocals; a thunderous mix on IQ. "Star to Follow" and a drum roll in the intro; guitar solo in Toto, saga, superb; new wave synth layers confuse the issue, the soft melody on Talk Talk flowing, the airy voice, a proggy riff and the vintage 80s keyboard, acoustic ballad on the guitar finale, Ayreon with melting synths. "Paranoid Structures" electro intro; bam an air worthy of a resurrected Zappa, jazzy then the neo takes over, bold, melodic and nervous; catch-all and distracting; softness of voice and fiery riff; final Steve Howe-style guitar arpeggio and "Create Our Sins" follows, a limpid piano and sax ballad that I had forgotten; funky lands where the piano and the jazzy trumpet break disconcert for a singular fusion; final hard rhythmic riff. "...of Silent Mammalia" ends this disconcerting album with a country, folk ballad to be taken as an outro.

The Ancestry Program sequel, less surprising because I know; more varied, melodic, prog, metal, jazzy, groovy, neo metal: disconcerting, perhaps too much for purists; a greasy sound, variations of imposing musical layers, a bit like this world-saving whale, an innovative album teeming with progressive reminiscences, that's the important thing. (3.5)

Here we have the third album from German neo-prog outfit The Ancestry Program, and as can be seen from the title this is the second part of a concept (interestingly, and somewhat unusually, the album cover is a direct continuation of the last one). This was originally planned to be released in Autumn of 2022, but decisions were made to undertake further work on the arrangements and production and to bring in additional instrumentation, all of which meant the release was delayed to July 2023. There have been some slight changes in the group as well, with the departure of bassist Frank Thumbach (replaced by Marco Osmajic) and the arrival of an additional guitarist in Mike Vogimeier, with the rest of the line-up still Andy Lind (drums, backing vocals), Mani Gruber (guitar, backing vocals), Ben Knabe (lead vocals, lap steel guitar) and Thomas Burlefinger (keyboards, backing vocals). The loose concept of the album is that a baleen whale decides he needs to save the planet as no other species seems willing to do so, which is an interesting twist (I personally always thought it would be the dolphins).

Musically this is incredibly complex, with considerable layers, and it is certainly helpful to have the lyrics available in the booklet which comes with this nice double digipak. The music is quite theatrical in that one never knows what is going to happen next, bringing in elements from many different sub genres, but always being truly progressive. Consequently they never really sound like anyone else in the scene, although due to their nature one could argue that Gandalf's Fist have had an impact, and the same with Clive Nolan. Ben has a wonderful vocal style, oozing confidence in his performance, but he is not credited as composer on any of the songs which have been written mostly by Andy Lind or Thomas Burlefinger with none of them indicated as being group compositions. The use of saxophone and cello on some songs provides additional depth while the arrangements are hugely complex and complicated, and I do find myself wondering how this compares to the first half this story.

This is an album which does take time to listen to, as there is a great deal going on and it is not as immediate as some with the danger that some of the elements could pass the listener by. I actually didn't hear the snippet of Churchill dialogue the first time through, as one needs to get inside the music to fully understand everything which is going on and that can take some time. It definitely needs to be listened to on headphones so all the little nuances and flourishes can be heard, and even if one has not heard the first part of this set (like me), there is still a great deal here to enjoy.