TIMELIGHT

Portland based quartet TIMELIGHT recently have succeeded to add their first eponymous contribution to the prog circle. Accomplishing a leading role with certainty, Chris Rudolf (guitar, keys) is responsible for the compositions as well as mixing and mastering here. Additionally Ron Murvihill (keys, flute), drummer Steve Lauer and Stevie Williams (bass, keys) are part of the crew. Concerning the instrumental skills this leaves nothing to be desired. And the five partially extended songs are offering a rather heavy progressive rock variant, provided with some distinct leanings to AOR here and there.

The album starts with The Law Of Identity, sounding relatively average and innocent initially, also due to the vocals. But hey, while gradually developing its unique atmosphere, this affair is definitely prospering throughout - so please take your time! While showing some Eagles/Poco flair, with Genomes the album matures more and more, is developing into a rather interesting unpredictable flow overall. This includes a varied keyboard and guitar presence, evolving to something pleasantly surprising. Also, some songs are decorated with nice flute contributions, and even something like a howling dog or wolf is striking on the atmospheric Normalcy Blindness by way of example.

Overall their music is surely consisting of a rather common and proven formula, featuring a typical piano intro here, bombast keyboards there, alternating between balladesque acoustic guitar parts and slicing guitar riffs representing a heavy rocking drive. This arranged with a quite entertaining approach though, not sounding like 'old wine in new skins' at all. Which finally attracted my attention amongst those multiple albums already arriving on the scene this year. You will find some captivating pieces on this self-released production. Thus it's definitely worth it to smell at the bottle on their bandcamp page at first.

Guitarist/singer Chris Rudolf and I somehow got in contact last year, after which he sent me not only the latest release from Timelight to review, but also their debut from 2016. The band were formed in Portland, Orgeon, by Chris in 2013 as a continuation of his solo work and was initially a trio featuring Steve Lauer (drums) and Stevie Williams (bass, keyboards), before Ron Murvihill (keyboards, vocals, flute) joined in time to record and release the debut. To me this is very reminiscent of much of the prog that was coming out of the American scene in the Nineties, not really neo-prog, but much more with an ear to the melodic rock and AOR scene.

These guys certainly understand how to produce powerful, bombastic music with some great riffs and guitar lines. There are times when Ron is relegated somewhat to the rear, providing a secondary support role, while the rest of the guys really kick off. There are some bass/drum/guitar runs in "The Law of Identity" which are an absolute delight, with the guys truly locked in and playing as one. But when he is given the opportunity Ron also shows he can either rock with the best of them or take the band in a totally different direction. Although this style was commonplace some twenty years earlier, there are few prog bands mixing it up quite like this in the 21st Century which makes this feel fresh and exciting.

The style of vocals can be a little off putting at first, just because Chris has a distinctive style, but that soon passes by, and one becomes completely enamoured with this five-song 55-minute-long debut which has a lot going for it. Self-produced and self-released, this is a solid album which is certainly worthy of investigation who want their prog to be influenced by progressive rock, and also for those who enjoy it the other way round.