THE FISH WHO WANTED TO BE KING

Lalu is a prog band formed and lead by French keybordist-composer Vivien Lalu. This is their 4th album, following closely after 2022's Paint the Sky, and their 2nd album to feature premier vocalist Damian Wilson (Ayreon, Star One, Headspace, Threshold) and he shines throughout the album. Although this band has been designated as progressive metal, this most recent album is really not that at all, fortunately, as it is more melodic and contains more elements of AOR style rock. I would call it more of a mixture of melodic rock, Neo prog, and classic symphonic prog, with some more modern, heavier, and jazzy elements as well. And it is quite wonderful, a delight from start to finish. There is certainly more than enough great classic proggy instrumental flourishes throughout to satisfy the prog fans, but also maintains solid melodic lines and themes (to not scare away the non-prog rock fans), as well as a diversity of styles, creating a fun, entertaining and unique blend of driving, rockin' prog songs, from the shorter, jazzy instrumental, Reversal of Fortune, to the many highlights of the more epic length Amnesia 1916 and title track. Best Tracks: Amnesia 1916, The Fish Who Wanted to Be King, Deoxyribonucleic Acid, Digital Fear, Reversal of Fortune. Rating: 4 stars

A group under the control of a French musician, you have to stop there and see what the substantial progressive marrow is made of. A group that had struck me favorably with its 'Oniric Metal' from almost 20 years ago; the penultimate with Damian yes the one who has tasted a number of groups and projects, the one who landed at ARENA, always present here in vocal session but who I would dream of seeing live. A fresh, recent album, 2 large pieces of more than 10 minutes, a prog metal sound on the edge between the progressive of the 70-80 dinos including YES yes Damian pulling on that of Jon; the YES of the 80s which tried syncopated and more direct rhythm; a soft prog metal sound, one of those which gives energy without showing the display of scales linked together at a hundred miles an hour... but which leaves a musical clairvoyance; a bit of DREAM THEATER, especially RUSH in the progressive excesses.

A fresh and quickly accessible album, whether you're a fan of Damian's voice or not. For the trouble I went back to his discography with LANDMARQ and THRESHOLD, and if we mix a little of the two, we arrive somewhere at the LALU sound, stamped melodic ambient prog metal. Melodic but progressive attention with breaks, intimate cinematic atmospheres and energy to spare. In short, a very good album of which I do not dissect all the titles one by one, not having seen the short hour of composing the different titles go by. Ah the final bass on 'The Wondering Kind' with this hint of a flagship GENESIS title still made me raise my ears just when I realized that it was the end, proof if it I needed this album to flow naturally. on 'Is That a London Number? ' TOTO reminiscences emerge to bring a fresh style that I spoke to you about from the start. Good for the eponymous title 'The Fish Who Wanted to Be King', apart from the sound of 'Talk' by YES which made me look for the resemblance, I could not fail to point out that the guitar riff of SAGA, you know the one syncopated, gripping, which spurts throughout the titles, well I found it and got up to put the replay on before continuing with the next title; Joop's solo is incidentally one of the most beautiful on the album in this track; in short, an album to (re)discover in today's progressive world.