GREEN LOVE

After a 9-year interim the Finnish prog band OCTOPIE is releasing a new album. Green Divine is a double CD and as ambitiously conceptual as their former album The Adventure of Harry and Walrus Kane (2015). I have now once listened to its first disc only, and I it wasn't exactly a happy return to the band's eclectic style I used to give such positive reviews. To be more precise, the acrobatic vocals really annoyed me this time. Mix the Tangerine Dream onetimer Steve Jolliffe (on 1978's album Cyclone) with The Cure's Robert Smith, add a lot of theatrical acrobatics and you get some idea of them. Maybe with repetitive listenings I can -- again, like I did back then -- get over the vocals and better concentrate on the music.

Before tackling the album itself in near future, here's a quick look at the first one of the two singles from it that were released this autumn. The near 8-minute 'Green Love' begins with a spacey instrumental intro for synths (sonically slightly resembling certain moments in Gentle Giant's Acquiring the Taste). The full band playing starts after one minute: intense and complex prog in a pretty fast tempo, bassist Tom Tamlander's vocals strongly present except for the wild instrumental latter half that escalates into a manic drum solo, soon joined by the rest of the group. The finale has strong keyboard chords.

Octopie's music is undoubtedly easier to swallow in small quantities, although in principle this is against their conceptual approach. At least this song, listened separately, doesn't contain the over-the-top vocals to the point of irritation. Can't say I'd be very fond of the highly hectic composition either, but it's a good calling card to show what this personal band is capable of.