TRAVELOG

3.5 stars really

Kinetic Element returns after more then 5 years pause after quite good debut Powerd by light with sophomore album released in june 2015 named Travelog. Well, this is a nice symphonic/neo prog album from start to finish. Lenghty release with two monster pieces, the opening and the ending track clocking almost 40 min both, the middle of the album being little less lenghtier but still over 10 min each. So, as I said the music is good as on debut, even great in places, there are plenty of memorable passages here from acustical guitar parts to melodious inspired keyboards elements, almost jazzy druming in places but remaining of prog coordonates this Travelog is a winner from me. The music is reminescent very much from old prog school, the british one, ELP, Genesis coming in mind among others, but aswell closely to what Spock's Beard or The Tangent was offering in their glory days. Beautiful crafted pieces, lots of twists and turns all 5 tracks are worth investigated, maybe with a plus on opening track, for me their most mature tune since their forming years. All in all a very worthy second offer for this still quite unknown band in prog circles, and I think they must be discovered by many prog listners as possible. A nice candidate for top 10 for 2015. A nice intriguing art work.

Six years after their very promising debut (Powered By Light), Kinetic Element is back again with their sophmore release called Travelog. It was a long time coming, but very worth the waiting. The american quartet had some changes: now Mark Tupko replaces original bassist Tony D´Amato. And the vocal department, once courtesy of keyboardsman Mike Visaggio are now handle by three different guest singers. Other than that, the core members are the same (Visaggio on keys, Todd Russel on electric and acoustic guitars and Michael Murray on drums).

Compared to their debut, Travelog is a much more symphonic affair, with a strong jazz-rock fusion influence (specially the guitar parts). The music is still melodic and accessible, but definitly more complex and elaborated now, with longer instrumental passages. For instance, the shortest song is the title track and it clocks well over the 9 minute mark. There are no fillers at all and it´s hard to say which tune is the best, but I think the opener, the 20 minute epic War Song is definitely a highlight, with many tempo and mood changes. But the whole album is very inspired, very well produced and recorded and containing some powerful playing of all involved (including newcomer Tupko who shows his skills from the start with a short, but stunning bass solo on the aforementined War Song). I just love Visgagio´s elegant keys (hints of Tony Banks, Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson abound). Russel´s guitar lines are superb too, but clearly this is a team work and everybody shines. Instrumentally speaking this album is as close to perfection as you can get, with not a wasted note to be found and everything flowing naturally thorughout the whole CD.

Vocals on the other side are not that perfect in my humble opinion. The three vocalists are very good and do a very creditable job on all tunes, but being so varied it kind of robbed some personality from the group. Mike Visaggio´s vocals on the first album showed that he was not the greatest singer, technically speaking, but he had a warm and soulful voice that suited their songs very well. While the guest singers were more professional, have stronger pipes, and most often than not they added a lot, sometimes they made the tunes sound too "clean" and less personal, if you know what I mean. It is just a detail only, of course. After all, 70 minutes of pure prog heaven is not something you find so easily nowadays!

Travelog is a fantastic CD that showed that Kinetic Element more than fulfilled its promising start. One of the best albums I heard this year and certainly a must have for any prog fan.

Rating: 4,5 stars at least,. Highly recommended!

US band KINETIC ELEMENT was formed back in 2006, when composer and keyboardist Mike Visaggio was looking for musicians he could employ to perform his solo material. He found with Todd Russell (guitars), Matt Harris (bass) and Michael Murray (drums), and they worked so well together that they decided to form a regular band. They released their debut album "Powered By Light" in 2009. "Travelog" is their sophomore production, and was released through the US label Melodic Revolution Records in 2015.

If you love and cherish symphonic progressive rock as it was made and explored back in the '70s, Kinetic Element's latest album is one that merits a check. While the album as a whole contains nods in the direction of multiple bands from that era, my main impression is that fans of classic Yes will be the ones who might be most intrigued by this album, as long as they are willing to listen to another band entering that specific realm of progressive rock that is.

Review originally published in www.therocktologist.com

After two years, I am finally writing a review of this great 2015 album released by Kinetic Element, a band led by Mike Visaggio who shares here a 5-song record full of symphonic elements that make the listener have a good time. It opens with the challenging "War Song", a 20-minute epic that doesn't hide the inspiration Visaggio took from some keyboard icons such as Wakeman or Emerson. The rhythmic section is great, bass and drums always accurate doing a good job, while guitars help a lot with its different figures. As you can imagine, the song has quite a lot of changes in mood and time, it brings both, instrumental passages and the ones with vocals, being the first one found at minute five. I must say that LeFavors voice is not my favorite, which doesn't mean could be anyone's favorite, of course. The flavor of the music is quite from the 70s, in spite the album is from this millennium, and it actually shows a sneak peek of what the sound of Kinetic Element will be in the rest of the album.

"Travelog" is a 10-minute track and it is actually the shortest one, go figure. It starts with a soft passage with acoustic guitar, then vocals appear as well as the other instruments and begin to built up a structure with a pastoral sound, very gentle but if you push me, it could turn a bit boring after some minutes. "Into the Lair" brings a more dramatic sound, a much more interesting mood (in my opinion, of course) than the previous track, creating a neo-prog sound that later is nicely joined by a sweet female voice. In this song we can notice how good musicians they are, their skills can be highlighted here, which in my opinion, is a nice example of what an excellent progressive rock song is. "Her" is a pretty nice song that doesn't have a bombastic symphonic sound, but a soft one, accompanied by a different singer that has a beautiful colour. Keyboards always create the background; there is a passage where guitar appears with a nice solo, so in the end one can easily enjoy this track.

The album finishes with another long epic entitled "Vision of a New Dawn" which is another good example of a great progressive rock song, developed with ambitious instrumental passages that show the musician's skills as composers and performers. After five minutes the song changes, vocals enter and together with piano create a tender sound tht later will be complemented by strings and drums, in fact, guitars have a special Howe-sque feeling. Some changes in the song and in the end the 18 minutes pass fast, which let us know the music is good. Now I am eagerly waiting to see Kinetic Element next Progtoberfest at Chicago.

Enjoy it!