A LONELY CROWD

If it turns out that "Devil in the Detail" is the literal swansong of A Lonely Crowd, they go out in a good way. While the shorter interludes mainly are a bit so-so to my ears, the longer compositions here showcase a skilled band that have found their own particular niche to explore by pairing off style and genre elements that to my mind at least will have been rather challenging to combine. One to seek out for those that tends to enjoy progressive rock that is a bit out of left field.

"Free Fall" is hit and miss for me. While I adore the depth of sound and heaviness I don't like it when the calm arrives just before a minute because of the vocals. Again when it kicks in hard each time I'm loving it. We get an almost trippy sound when it settles after 3 minutes and I also like the deep sounds that follow. "Elevate" is heavy with vocals although I'm not too sure about the lyrics on this one. "Electric Sheep" is a short electronic piece as is "Re-Rez Ram" although the latter has more going on. "Sunbail" fits in between the two short electronic tracks I just talked about. The solo guitar to start is interesting mostly because of the tone. It will return later but before that the music turns full rather quickly. Again I love the power these guys can generate.

"Taken Over" features some excellent sounding bass as the vocals and beat join in quickly. It does kick into a higher gear and themes are repeated. Good song. "The Owls Are Not What They Seem" is an interesting soundscape that is dark and great for the imagination. "Fire Away" features piano and a mellow sound as the vocals join in. "Devil In The Detail" features piano throughout and is just over a minute long. "All The Colours" opens with strummed guitar before the drums and vocals kick in. Backing vocals are a plenty on this one as well. It changes shades several times throughout it's length.

I actually listened to "User Hostile" yesterday as a comparison to this one and I do feel that the debut is so much better than this EP. 3 stars and I'm guessing this is a taste of what we'll hear on their next full length album. It sure has it's moments.

Hard alternative rock combined with gentler light toned passages and with a liberal amount of more or less subtle jazz details thrown in for good measure are the main ingredients used on A Lonely Crowd's sophomore production "Transients". An impressive, quirky and fairly challenging affair, and a CD that documents that you can indeed make progressive rock even when exploring short-length compositions. While not all that similar in sound, my gut feeling is that this album should have a fairly strong appeal amongst those who enjoy the US band District 97. There are similarities in sound also beyond the fact that both bands feature some of the most skilled female lead vocalists in progressive rock, and while the similarities aren't all that strong and obvious there's still enough of them to conclude that both bands should appeal to a fairly similar audience.

The songs are short sharp shocks of prog excess and never wear out their welcome, though one may wish the songs were extended. There is little room for huge jams or instrumental breaks, instead the album seems to move along quickly and before one has had a chance to take in the massive sound on a particular song it has already moved onto the next. The heavy 'Godamnesia' is a case in point as I had no idea it had ended before 'Inspector' began.

'Inspector' is delightfully quirky with an odd angular rhythm that bashes along with distorted glee and then an odd break into sporadic jazz fusion bursts. Xen's vocals are bang on target with aggression giving way to light folk styles. It is better to listen to than explain so I leave this up to you. It is so interminably short for such a great song.

'Blur' has a King Crimson feel with Frippian guitar licks by Luke Ancell, and 'Kamikaze Karma' has some wonderful vocals with a Celtic lilt, the scales that Xen floats along and the way she keeps in tune with so many notes hit dead on is phenomenal.

'Rapture' features some breakneck drumming from Scott Ancell, and a notably off beat bass performance from David Morkunas. 'Sound Tripper' is another short trippy thing with an ultra cool melody and memorable catchphrase "dreamcatcher, rainmaker, sorcerer, dictator, soundmaker, dreamweaver, healer and owl" sung in time to the rhythmic feel.

'Blows & Arrows' is one of the heavier tracks with Luke's relentless guitar crashing down and then some dreamy vocals to offset the balance. The song settles into a jazz fusion with odd time sigs and then launches into more distortion breaks. I love the flute work of Xen on this as a counterpoint. Some thought provoking lyrics enhance it, such as "a crack in the door into my room where I stand, bend my bow back and let the arrow fly, into my heart like a hunter in trance".

'Telephiles' is an attention grabber with killer melody that haunts the listener without mercy. 'Seeing Stars' introduces glockenspiel passages embellishing the bizarre atmosphere. Xen belts out phrases such as "Stars are on fire". Again I can't help but be reminded of King Crimson with those angular riffs and the overall sound the band generates. Luke channels Fripp at times, and the odd use of glockenspiel is wonderfully, deliriously out of place. 3 minutes in, the sig changes into a jazz breakdown and some spaced out vocals "bye bye bird on a wire, waiting for a bite sized cloud".

'Voodoo Tube' has a Frippian intro, and moves into strange tempo shifts. The rhythm is all over the map and grooves into a vocal that sounds like Toyah; ironic really as Toyah married Fripp!

'The Wanderer' is the longest track at 5 minutes, featuring more glockenspiel and rhythms that are out of the park. The song is a mystery tour of amazing tempo jolts and sweet vocals. It opens with Luke's gentle guitar vibrations, Xen in a melancholy mood and David has put the drumsticks away. Xen muses on "a wild goose chase", pinning her "hopes on vanishing lands", thinking she can be "caught like smoke with two hands", with "feathers dropping off one by one". The song soon builds into sporadic drum and bass, and breaks into glockenspiel accompaniment to Xen's jaunty see-sawing Kate Bush-ian vocals. David swaps the bass for piano on this and lays a foundation for some gorgeous guitar soloing. The piano finishes off the song with quiet resolve.

Overall, this album is another triumph for A Lonely Crowd. It is hard to pick out a particular favourite as the songs all work together well. There are a myriad of styles and I believe this will appeal to many prog lovers and those who enjoy the quirkier side of jazz. Metal heads may even appreciate the heavier moments though overall this crosses into too many genres to pin down any in particular. The music is inspirational but it is Xen that really makes this extra special. "Transients" is yet another excellent album to enjoy from this inventive, passionate and dynamic quartet.

A Lonely Crowd is definitely one of these modern Aussie bands who are pushing the envelope of modern progressive rock. Releasing their debut album User Hostile in 2011, the band is fairly young, but with their follow up Transients they show that even for their experience they have a mature identity and a strong musical sensibility.

Built around the amalgamation of dozens of styles and sounds, A Lonely Crowd's sound is a melting pot of alternative rock, heavy prog sensibilities, and an experimental nature that permeates their entire sound. Fronted by the powerful female vocalist Xen Havales, the band has a unique sound comparable perhaps only to the equally unique Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. The band, however, stays away from the rampant avant-garde nature that SGM embraces; instead, they foster a curious state of catchy experimentality.

While a song's melodic structure should be atypical of any earworm a listener may have had, I at least found a number of melodies, such as the one on Kamikaze Karma or Teliphiles, stuck in my head for days. The band's strong emphasis for carefully constructed instrumentation and well-articulated vocal harmony make for very mature-sounding compositions.

Compared to their previous effort, however, the band, in many ways, sounds reserved even for the energy-packed nature of their music. Songs like Sound Tripper and the finale The Wanderer show a much softer, jazz-oriented side to the band that was very underrepresented on User Hostile. This, of course, does not mean that the band did not bring any of their punk-fueled energy with them, however. Plenty of songs, such as Voodoo Tube, show a THRAK-era King Crimson-esque avant/punk instrumental sensibility that fuses gorgeously with the airy female vocals. On the other hand, the band also maintains their very conservative songwriting ability as well, showcasing their fairly straightforward and very catchy songwriting style, such as on Blur.

In the end, just like their previous effort, Transients is an incredibly varied effort from the band. While the band sounds slightly reserved and packaged at a few select points, the overall effort is a more mature offering from the band. While the band may still be working out what style really makes them tick, they are not afraid to explore every avenue they have on their musical roadmap. The music, however, is just as exciting as I hoped it would be when I heard User Hostile for the first time back in 2011. I think in the coming years, A Lonely Crowd will condense their sound into a focused, mature, and impressive display of eclectic heavy progressive rock. 4+ stars.

That being said, the excellent instrumentation that backs all of the vocals (which are pretty skillfully done and have pretty good lyrics) really adds something special to the mix. The are heavily progressive, at times approaching progressive metal in nature, but they never get too heavy and that is where this perfect blend comes from and it makes for an incredibly interesting listen.

I would recommend this album without a second thought, streaming is free on bandcamp and a download is worth every penny. It grabs your attention first listen, and yet it is still a grower in that you find something more to like each time. In that way alone, it is worth your time.

4 well-deserved stars.

What saves the album is the group's competent avant-prog performances which is reminiscent of trying to fuse RIO with modern day heavy prog to create a strange hybrid. User Hostile is not an album I expect to return to regularly, but if they can get a stable lineup and focus more on their strengths A Lonely Crowd may prove to be an intriguing new feature of the musical landscape.

If you continued to follow my advice and went on to the last track, you would scarcely know you were listening to the same band. The breezy, acoustic twang has been replaced by a hyper-aggressive sound that falls somewhere between Rage Against The Machine and Pain of Salvation. Gone too are the lilting melodies of our previous female vocalist, in their place we find male vocals snarling and spitting; belting and screaming in a way that is by turns abrasive and melodic. Think of "Used" by Pain of Salvation and add in another heaping spoonful of screed and you'd have a pretty good mental picture of what the song is all about.

So now you know how the album starts, and how it ends. What's important, though, is what lies between, and I can't imagine that the gamut of styles that comprises the meat of this album will leave any prog fan disappointed. The powerful instrumental "Barbed Haywire" juxtaposes heavy, almost math-rock guitar against dreamy atmospheres and disturbing ambiences, mixing flute melodies with crunching guitar riffs to create a track that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Steven Wilson's Grace for Drowning. The epic and beautiful "Glass Eyes" crosses fuzzed out riffs with frenetic flute parts and tosses wonderfully harmonized vocals on top to evoke the heaviest dream you ever had. "Make You Scream" mixes an almost martial drum-beat with psychedelic, heavy guitar and then channels Joni Mitchell and Grace Slick in equal parts to deliver a slinky, powerful vocal line on top of it all. The jangly "Bipolar Bear" sounds like someone bought a music box from hell's gift shop and then sampled it in a song inspired by King Crimson's "Red." "Mustard Brush Tango" combines an Ennio Morricone soundtrack with metal polka by way of Estradasphere. These descriptions are becoming increasingly ridiculous but hopefully you begin to get the idea.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the band members were big fans of both Opeth and Porcupine Tree; I can pick out the kind of almost-dissonant, weirdly tonal guitar parts that seem to be all over Opeth albums, and there are melodic elements that I think could have fit very well on Porcupine Tree albums. That said, however, the way the band has managed to take all of these sounds and synthesize them into something new really is remarkable. I'm reminded at times of Leprous and Pain of Salvation, as well as the aforementioned groups, and yet, I'm hestitant to even label this a metal album. There's just too much variety in the construction and style of the tracks for me to really be comfortable calling it anything in particular, to be honest, except perhaps to remark that it would seem to fall into the nebulous categorization of "heavy prog" in the most literal sense, even though it's not always heavy.

If I have one gripe with the album it's that I think it runs a tad long; there's just so much packed into an already fairly long album (about an hour) that it can be challenging to sit through in one listen. That said, it's a tremendously impressive piece of progressive music and one that should simultaneously sound familiar and fresh to devotees of progressive rock. Excellent, if slightly challenging stuff.

4/5

"Blessing In Disguise" is a short mellow intro track with female vocals. "Barbed Haywire" is a pretty heavy instrumental but the heaviness is contrasted well with the more laid back passages with flute. "Tyranny Of Dissonance" has this heavy under-current with female vocals. I like the flute. It's intense after 3 minutes then it settles again. "Make You Scream" has to be a top three for me. It's relaxed at first then everything including the vocals turns intense before a minute. Lots of passion here but the contrasts will continue. I like the keyboards after 2 minutes and the vocal melodies that follow. "Tightrope Somnabulists" features flute and heaviness early on then it settles 2 minutes in. Vocals don't come in until after 4 1/2 minutes. An interesting track. "Dragonfly" is mellow with vocals but it kicks in before a minute. "End Without End" reminds me of Canadian singer Sam Roberts.

"Misunderestimated" sounds great with that nice heavy sound with vocals. "Mustard Brush Tango" is a different but fun instrumental with some guest clarinet. "Status Anxiety" opens with acoustic guitar and reserved vocals. The bass and drums join in then the synths roll in before 3 minutes. "Adjustify" kicks in quickly then settles back with male vocals. "Bipolar Bear" is an instrumental that begins with this carnival-like melody and it's contrasted with these heavy sections with flute. "Few And Far Between" is a top three with those reserved female vocals and laid back sound early on. A nice heavy sound then kicks in. Great track ! "De Vito" is a short vocal tune. "Glass Eyes" features atmosphere before the vocals, heaviness and flute take over. "Skyscraper" is my final top three. It opens with the sound of someone walking in a building before heaviness and male vocals take over. He's screaming now. Nice !

Without question this is a band to keep an eye on and I highly recommend "User Hostile" to anyone who is into Heavy-Prog.

The band consist of the main trio Luke Ancell on guitars, Scott Ancell on drums, and David Morkunas on bass, and keys. They are joined by vocalists Leah Ceff, also on flute, Xen "Pow" Havales, and guests Tomas Fitzgerald, vocalist on 'Adjustify', Karen Heath, clarinet player on 'Mustard Brush Tango', and Shane Lieber, vocalist on 'Skyscrapers', and 'Tyranny of Dissonance'.

'Blessing in Disguise' is an odd start with vinyl crackles and then a jazz cabaret feel with very nice vocals by Leah. This segues straight into the heavier distorted riffs and unusual time signature of 'Barbed Haywire'. The flute than joins in to lend a very strange atmosphere, as it keeps time with the angular guitars. The instrumental has King Crimson like intricacy and is a signifier of the type of music the band focusses on; an odd blend of metal riffs and ambiance.

The vocals of Xen have a clarity and forced power on 'Tyranny of Dissonance', with more distortion and flute driving it along. It breaks midway and there is a punctuated percussion and blasts of guitar. Leah's vocals have a folk resonance like Pentangle or Renaissance but the heavy guitars always remind us of the heavy aspect of the band, especially at the end of this track when the pace quickens and feels more chaotic.

'Make You Scream' begins with marching timpani drums and fractured signature. Leah's vocals are again well executed and improvised in some places along a vibrant tempo with heavy guitars. 'Tightrope Somnabulists' has a gorgeous flute that floats along the guitar phrases. Even as the tempo gets faster the flute is a beautiful embellishment; a real oddity with all the metal distortion but flute balances it all out nicely. The gentle flute passage with Luke's fingerpicking guitar work is mesmirising. The vocals come in very late but are welcome after a lengthy instrumental section.

The diversity of styles continues on 'Dragonfly' that has a Euro pop feel especially due to the vocal style of Xen and overall musicianship. The riff breaks into a heavy flute and guitar melody. The band are tight and inventive with some moments that are simply inspired; this song is a wonderful example of the dexterity of the band. The lyrics are arresting; "dragonfly, you came upon me in the sun, and in your flight you cast a love spell, a simple heart spell."

'End without End' has some dynamic percussion from Scott and a gentle guitar rhythm. Again the vocals are unusual from Leah, almost identical in tone to Xen which works well for the continuity of the band although they have had two main vocalists for the creation of this album. Xen was the singer who remained with the band in its current state. The lyrics are thought provoking; "retract reset forget, dark around the aperture, light beyond the wall, death mask in silhouette, celebrate the discord, and orchestrate the fall."

'Misunderestimated' is one of the best tracks with a real guttural distorted guitar and some more folkish vocals from Xen. This is a genuine oddity with power riffs and almost a Celtish vocal treatment. The song breaks towards the end into orchestral strings and a cinematic soundscape is generated. This one is well worth checking out and showcases the original approach of the band to their craft.

'Mustard Brush Tango' has a quirky percussive figure and Eastern musical feel. Its idiosyncratic nature is highlighted by the jazzy flute flavours and contagious cha cha cha Latin tango rhythms. The sound is as jazzy as the band will get especially with Karen's gorgeous clarinet. This instrumental is one right out of the box and works well as a piece of inventive and bold diversity.

'Status Anxiety' has an acoustic intro, Leah's sweet vocals, and builds with a strong measured rhythm. It feels accessible as alternative metal in places and breaks into a spacey section with David's swirling keys and pulsating bass. The flute augments the soundscape along with the choppy guitars on an irregular time sig.

'Adjustify' is different with vocals by Tomas and heavy distortion section that trades places with jazzy melodies. Due to the vocals this is a unique track on the album but still feels part of the whole due to the consistent treatment of the musical sporadic approach.

'Bipolar Bear' is another instrumental that focusses on experimental ideas such as a chiming sound, backwards effects, and the swooping flute. Eventually a fast guitar riff breaks through, then stops abruptly as more nursery chimes ring out. This is one odd piece of music with rises and falls of tension and release throughout; one is never sure where the music will take them, like a bipolar disorder, so it keeps the listener on their toes. 'Few and Far Between' is a return of Leah's vocals and feels more like a song after the previous unpredictable experimentation. Her voice, and Xen's, is such a wonderful accompaniment to all the musical mayhem. There are moments of chaos as usual with some grinding power metal riffs that break into quieter passages at will. This is one of the better tracks on the album with excellent vox and guitar artistry. The lyrics are inspirational; "it's your life, it's the part you play, performance over for another day, but in the mirror who do you portray, the final curtain's just a breath away."

'De Vito' is a short transition of music with Xen's voice mixed to the front. The heavy time shifts are sporadic and progressive. 'Glass Eyes' open with chiming atmospherics and swell in volume with guitar feedback and a heavy riff. The flute somehow keeps up with all the riffing with elegant quality. The vocals are handled by Leah who is also magnificent on flute. The lyrics are quite potent; "corporations rise and fall, the masses pinned against the wall, slow the rat race to a crawl, life goes on and on."

'Skyscraper' closes the album with another fish out of water featuring the raspy vocals of Shane, sounding like Alt Metal. Shane screams his throat raw but is also able to provide some cool vocals on sections such as the melodic line "hopefully you will be assured my intentions are pure." The lyrics are mostly delivered with forced aggression and some expletives thrown in; it even looks as though it was censored as some extreme lyrics in the booklet are not delivered. It is an interesting way to close the album with a slab of Screamo but for some reason it ends it on an appropriate note, as there were so many diverse styles previous.

In conclusion, the album "User Hostile" is one of the most diverse albums I have heard in a long time. The varied vocals are one reason but it is mainly due to the fact that the band desire to inject a variety of influences and musical methods to hammer home their thematic content. It should appeal to those who like metal but not too heavy, and it will certainly appeal to those who desire to hear something different. A Lonely Crowd know how to balance out ambiance and heavy music with precision and this album captures this unusual style with innovation and adroitness. The band are very skillful musicians and hopefully will be able to continue to produce excellent albums like this in the near future.