ISOBAR III

The rich progressive rock landscape has been all well since the dawn of The Moody Blues' 67 magnum opus. A few mishaps in the 80s, but the golden summer grandchild of classical music has been as healthy as can be. Yet, with all these acts, actions, and reactions, it takes a bit of a know-how of the seams to get to the showdown of things. Even by the turn of the 2020s' horrific start up engine, and its crass out of pocket outcomes, the prog rock series of events has only been improved. The decade is still fresh, but the musicianship is still as ripe as ever. Ripe enough that even the fruit without a voice can still find a hand to be plucked from.

Isobar's third album (aptly named Isobar III) is the instrumental retro prog answer to the great SBB. Take a bit of symphonic prog, add it with rich space rock and psych rock, and a newly found modern sensibility, and you get this album. A rich and sonic environment created by three boys in neo prog own Metaphor, as well as Anglagard's drummer Mattias Olsson, that enriches a field of vision that I have always held dear.

Instrumental progressive rock is a tricky topic to tackle, as I may find that purebred instrumentals have a quite tricky temperament, but I am willing to tackle it. The musical envelope found here is quite a superb flavor of retro prog infidelities and psychedelic licks and turns, mixed with an array of emotion in the standards. I cannot deny that this music has some very good lavishes to go around. From scores like Face in the Blue, and The Mimus Polyglottos Alarm Clock, I always find there to be tracks on here that savor my hunger for some tasty retro prog. Scrumptious I do say.

Though, I cannot in good conscience say there is an awfully poignant moment in time on this album that truly bends me. Unlike others of this year, Isobar III has given me an album rich with very glamorous songs, yet none, sadly, have aspects that make me come back for seconds. Got the gist with the first listen, know the rest the second. For the most part, all is good and said, but I want a bit more stuff on top of here, perhaps a truly memorable crescendo or a bit of a left turn from the familiar prog tracks. I wanna listen to this album and feel immersed in its honey, and I don't think Isobar's honey is quite as sweet as many others.

I also find that the songs feel a bit too long for their own good. Whilst I love my good 'ol 10 minute track, I don't think what is shown here warrants that level of music. 57 minutes of instrumental prog music is all well and good, but, even if this may sound harsh, what Isobar puts here warrants more of a 39 minute album as they do not quite have the same wax on their candle to keep the fire burning for this long. I like all the tracks here, but shaving off some fat from your prime ribs can't hurt a bit, I do believe.

My sternness aside, I do think Isobar III is still quite a good endeavor of retro prog flavors, even if those flavors aren't as strong as one may expect. Certainly a neat album for your time, if not a bit overstaying their welcome. It does get me a bit more interested in more of their music. Guess if you cannot win me with your third, you'll win me with your second and first.

A project I've been paying attention to since their 2020 debut (mostly because it's been supported by Prog Hall-of- Fame Member, Mattias Olsson on his native drums since). This is their third studio album release.

1. "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?" (7:44) piano, bass and Mellotron intro, joined by drums and more at 0:30 to create a cinematic soundscape--until 1:20 when guitars and bass take the song into an angular, Änglagård-like direction. A pause 2:20 teases us into wondering which direction is next, but we only get a return to the AltrOck-like motif with some jazzy piano and sustained fuzz-guitar double soloing. At 4:12 we get another stop and extended atmospheric pause--which plays out in kind of dream-reverie section until a RUSH-like re-entry occurs at 5:40. The passage that follows enjoys some input from a violin as well as the guitar and synth (MIDI-ed) doubling up to create a new melody--which is then reinforced by the violin to the finish. Solid instrumental prog. (13.25/15)

2. "Parts of Harvey" (7:28) the slow, down-tempo parts of this album sound and feel like some of the guitar-led New Age music from the 1990s. There is also a bit of a modern RPI feel to this song's sound palette and melody choices. The lead guitar sounds like my brother's "saw guitar" sound on his 1990s Korg or Ensoniq Mirage keyboards. Kind of CAMEL-ish--that is, until the FOCUS-like funked up sixth minute.Nice, solid, but nothing extraordinary. (13.125/15)

3. "Face in the Blue" (5:01) opens with a familiar sound--like something from one of Francesco Zago's projects a decade ago (NOT A GOOD SIGN, EMPTY DAYS)--even the melodies used once the full songscape is established sound like SKE-ZAGO's. The song really picks up in the fourth minute--Mattias Olsson really pushing the envelope--as the keys and guitars embellish and riff. At 4:20 we settle back into second gear again for the long decay with some nice fills from Mattias. (8.875/10)

4. "Shadow Green" (6:27) a song whose lead guitar playing gives it the feel of a STEVE HACKETT song (from any era), though the foundational palette and style feels quite a bit like Andrew Marshall's WILLOWGLASS. (8.75/10)

5. "The Trouble with Buttons" (5:32) prog with big band jazz horns accenting much of the funky sound. Great performances of some pretty complex music. I love Mattias and Jim Anderson's driving rhythm track--at least until 2:40 when the music takes a turn down one of Paris' shopper's lanes (where it gets more quirky). (9/10)

6. "4th Leg" (6:38) opening in a little more serious and bombastic in the Italian way, the joinder of Phil Miller-like saw guitar in the lead position at the end of the first minute gives this a bit of a Homunculus Res/Camembert/Oiapok sound. Then add in the work of the horn section in the third minute and you have quite a song. Then at 2:50 there is a GENESIS-like bridge into a piano-centric section that once again reminds me of SKE/Francesco Zago's instrumental sound palette on the NOT A GOOD SIGN albums.Even the sparse section at the halfway point is quite reminiscent of the modern Italian progsters. (Perhaps it is the modern Italians' inspiration from Änglagård that I should be crediting more!) (9/10)

7. "Objet" (3:42) slowed down jazzy Canterbury-styled European prog that reminds me quite a bit of the wonderful music of UK/Sweden's THIEVES' KITCHEN. Nicely melodic--using European street melodies--making it my favorite song on the album. (9.33/10)

8. "The Mimus Polyglottos Alarm Clock" (10:12) opems with a slowly-shifting droning low-end bass note over which a lone glockenspiel recites the glockenspiel melody line from the close of Steve Hackett's "Shadow of the Heirophant" almost note for note. Cymbal play, synth vocals, guitar notes, and other incidentals add their intermittent contributions until 1:22 when drums and bass kick in, driving the song forward while everyone else takes their turns (and time) getting on board the train. By the third minute everybody else has arrived (and again in the fourth minute), though intermittent stops re-starts make one unsure of whether or not this will remain so. These shifts, occurring at the core rhythmic level, are quite a nice vehicle for Mattias Olsson to remind us of just how amazing of a drummer he is as there are subtly different rhythms and paces employed with each turn. Overall it might be more accurate to compare this to a bus ride as each new turn could be construed as a turn into a new and different neighborhood. The longest "stop" is in the sixth minute ("Is something wrong with the bus?" one might ask, or, "Did the road or neighborhood become suddenly more treacherous?")--even passing through an Irish neighborhood in the eighth minute--before the pace finally picks up again, though with a totally new driver and route (maybe he's Irish). This section is just a bit too weird for me--reminding me of the many twists and turns Keith Emerson would take in the course of his grand musical journeys--many of which I did not like or enjoy. Then the song just ends! The next one starts up as if yet one more turn of the bus! Weird. (17.3333/20)

9. "Full Nelson" (5:02) sounds like something one of Tony Levin's projects from the past 30 years could have done--very technical and oddly rhythmed but solidly pulled off. Then, at the 3:00 mark, things stop and switch directions (and gears), moving us more into a sappy Mike Rutherford style. (8.75/10)

Total Time 57:46

This is a very solid album, full of wonderfully solid, forward-thinking progressive rock music (very influenced by the musics of Änglagård and modern RPI). I only wish there had been a little more stellar/flashy lead instrumental performances as well as, of course, some vocals. I do have to comment that this album contains some of the best pure drum kit playing I've heard from Mattias Olsson in a long time (not that I've heard everything the busiest man in prog has done over the past ten years). After three releases in four years, the band has managed to keep the bar very high.

B/four stars; a very nicely performed and produced set of instrumental prog compositions that I think every prog lover will find interesting and satisfying.