SOUTHERN EMPIRE

Reality tells me that I am in my comfortable living room, but I imagine myself in a richly overgrown area that is immeasurably large and where the sturdy neo-prog reigns in all keys. In this landscape it is a colourful sequence of fascinating, fat solos on guitar and keys, broad vocals, cool bass playing, thunderous drumming and warm, pleasant vocals. This Kansas and Dream Theater-like music sounds like Australia as a country to me.

The break-up in 2014 of the neo-prog band Unitopia has resulted in two beautiful new bands which are well established already. For example, Mark Trueack created the wonderful project United Progressive Fraturnity (UPF). The singer, together with dozens of other musicians from all over the world, expresses the beauty, the vulnerable and our destructive behavior of mother earth. Keyboardist Sean Timms, on the other hand, has kept it closer to home and founded the band Southern Empire. In 2016 their self-titled debut album was released and in an unchanged line-up, the "Civilisation" discussed here was released two years later. Just sit down. You are going to be glued to your chair, for seventy minutes.

Only four numbers are responsible, respectively 9:12, 19:13, 29:15 and 10:22. When you globally listen to the album, two things stand out, things which make every song a tasty attraction. I'm talking about the enormous virtuosity of everyone and about the fantastic way of composing in which the parts merge so smoothly that sometimes you almost need a looking glass to be able to perceive it. Sometimes you don't. The first song Goliath's Moon is largely based on a catchy AOR song that is beautifully interspersed with, among other things, a jazzy piano. The final minute with its swirling drums is so strong that I want to nominate it as the highlight of the album. That's not really fair Mr. Director.

In the subsequent Cries For The Lonely, 74 solos are eager to walk away with that honor. Yet it is not only the tonal cries of the heart that should be praised, it is the context in which they take place. There is a great intro with a ditto violin solo, there are tasteful interventions of violin and guitar, the interpretations of bass guitar and drums are above average and the expressive vocals of Danny Lopresto are also extraordinary. With this song, they are a tyrant of good taste. Cries For The Lonely lasts more than fifteen minutes. Make no mistake, this is beauty for life.

With Crossroads, the band continues to create quality music. It is unprecedented how big the buoy factor is. This song is already on the debut album of UPF but because of the special Southern Empire sauce you now have two great versions at your disposal. The giga-epic, by the way, was written in Unitopia times by Trueack and Timms, hence these two versions. The finale of the song is so noteworthy, there is no escaping it. If, like me, you're a lover of largo music, this is your time. Singer Danny Lopresto brings this Neal Morse-like piece with just the right grandeur and timing. Grandiose. The final piece of the album is Innocence & Fortune, again a fine example of tonal forge. Southern Empire makes artisanal music. You can see the person standing (or sitting) behind his instrument.

With "Civilisation", Southern Empire has made a strong album in the field of the solid neo-prog. The music is not in the East, nor in the West, the North or the South. Southern Empire has shot right into the bull's eye.

Orginally posted on www.progenrock.com

It has always been incredibly difficult for any bands to get traction in this part of the world, due not to musical quality but rather the difficulty in gathering enough people to play in front of, and there being very little in the sense of a progressive scene which there is in Europe and America. I am still convinced that if Aragon had decamped to London as opposed to staying in Melbourne back in the Nineties then they would now be far more widely known, as they should be widely known by all progheads and I do wonder if that has been the same issue with Southern Empire as this album is an absolute delight from beginning to end and I am somewhat surprised not to see more reviews saying just that.

All the songs are nicely constructed with loads of depth and changes in style, and new singer Holton is a real find as he is able to hit the notes and hold them while also providing plenty of emotion. With multiple singers in the band it is no surprise there are lots of harmonies, and there are times when the prog is heavily tinged by AOR, and others where is some nice rocking guitar, and I can certainly see why this was grabbed by the Crossover team on PA as that is where I would have put them as well. There are times when we get some pop elements, as the band mix it up, and the feeling is that this is something which is highly commercial and has been somewhat sanitised in the studio but would be much heavier when played live. It is not a difficult album to listen to, and may be just too commercial and middle of the road for some, but there is nice complexity here and there which takes the edge off the sugar and the result is something I enjoyed immensely.

This disc offers us the excellent like the second piece "Face the Dawn" (9/10) from the great symphonic progressive (the acoustic guitar accompanied by the violin at 3:45 is just sumptuous), to the more than mediocre "When You Return" and again I weigh my words (5/10). Big gap then and Shaun HOLTON's singing has nothing to do with it, being more than correct or even good, for me the slayer of singers who would do better to keep quiet. Let's take the pieces in random order because this is sometimes the right method to discover a work that is as complex as this "Another World" is, to say the least.

The fifth track "Moving Through Tomorrow" for example would have benefited from being shortened by a good two minutes, the final part spoiling the pleasure of the beginning (8/10) all the same. The sixth, the peplum "White Shadows" and its more than nineteen minutes, majestically introduced by the violin, the flute and the piano during its first four minutes, gets lost in useless meanders of complexity afterwards (what a shame) , making me think of more than passable SPOCKS BEARD (a band that I never got attached to), the saxophone bringing something extra to this piece? but what does the metallic guitar break do which ruins everything in the seventh minute and the jazzy digression of the fifteenth minute! (7/10) because it is necessarily complicated to compose such long suites (let's give credit to Sean TIMMS).

As you will have understood, my disappointment is more than equal to the hopes I had for SOUTHERN EMPIRE; of course a record which will not appear in my fifteen albums of 202

The album kicks off with the quite proggy Reaching Out. It's a fine track, reminding me of the sound of 90s prog band Cairo at points, and has grown on me more than all the others. The epic Face the Dawn is what I feel is the best track on the album. One of the main vocal riffs is borrowed from Coldplay's Viva la Vida, but it is overall fantastic piece of music, and probably one of my top tracks of the year. Hold On to Me is Cam Blokland's sentimental ballad. The lyrics in the chorus are saccharin and unoriginal enough to hurt the song. But the tune and the music are pretty fantastic. Some better effort on the lyrics on it would have made it phenomenal. When You Return is an all right song that is tarnished by awful narration used explain what the Fermi Paradox is. There is no need to dumb down a song with a middle school explanation of a familiar topic (nor even an unfamiliar one). Moving Through Tomorrow starts off terribly with the worst lyrics on the album and a hair band-like tune. It goes through cliche after cliche, and I would be embarrassed to play it in front of anyone. The middle of the song is actually quite good and melodic, even if the music is lifted almost straight from Steven Wilson's The Pin Drop. White Shadows is the big epic, and they pull it off. It's not near the level as tracks from their previous album like Crossroads or Cries for the Lonely, but it's really superb all the way through. The closer Butterfly is pretty good.

Overall, it's a good, flawed album, but a big step back in the band's progress. Holton has good vocal ability, but it has a whiny, mid-2000s aspect to it that takes away from the melodic sound of the band. The album is mostly hurt by the lazy lyrics though. Tightening that up alone would be a big improvement for the future.

Yes, on the surface one could give Southern Empire's sophomore release a cursory listen and skip around through the expanse of music that makes up the four tracks and declare it another example of overblown musicianship and pretentious compositions. But in the same way, one could nibble around the crust of a deluxe pizza and grumble that it's just dough with a bit of cheese. I say this because I found the self-titled debut to offer so many musical wonders and yet I heard a well-known U-Choober pass the album off as nothing original and far too common these days to be impressive. What?! Sir, our opinions differ. Greatly so!

"Civilization" was released in July of this year (2018) and I had pre-ordered it, fully anticipating an album as equally impressive as I found the debut to be. I was only to be disappointed by the post, which lost my order, and I didn't finally receive a copy of the album until late in August.

The album has just four tracks, but right from the start, Sean Timms and Co. tantalize your tympanic membrane with an excellent eight-minute track that comes across as crossover prog with an earwormy, catchy chorus. "Goliath's Moon" also includes a slower middle part and some awesome lead guitar work by Cam Blokland, who plays like an eighties metal guitarist (think Vivian Campbell, Steve Vai, Vito Bratta, etc.) in a prog setting.

The next two tracks, "Cries for the Lonely" and "Crossroads" extend over 19 minutes and 29 minutes respectively. Here is where one might expect to be dragged along through tedious reworkings of Flower Kings- inspired epics, but fear not! One thing that Southern Empire has going for it is a natural ability to blend styles and combine world music influences. Some highlights from "Cries for the Lonely" are the violin melody after the first minute and the chorus at 4:20 that sounds really heavy, almost like power metal but in a heavy prog framework. Powerprog? There's also a wonderful instrumental section around 11:00 and at 11:45 comes this beautifully melodic metal type guitar solo which is both technical and purposeful in the context of the music.

"Crossroads" begins with music that appeared on United Progressive Fraternity's debut album, "Fall In Love with the World" from the song "Travelling Man (The Story of Eshu)". The original song was written by Mark Trueack and Sean Timms, both of whom were responsible for the band Unitopia, and the music is credited to these two and Matt Williams. The UPF song is about 21 minutes long, but here "Crossroads" tips the 29-minute mark. Some highlights I noted are the world music/classical type part around 4:10 which is followed by a flute and guitar solo, and a horror movie-sounding piano melody that is joined by heavy guitar and then violin playing in a style like eastern music. At 21:00 there's some great synthesizer playing and cool drums, then an ear-catching melody followed by a guitar solo. There's a jazzy bit and some soprano sax by Marek Arnold of Seven Steps to the Green Door. The final part of the track is slow and beautiful and then builds to a big dramatic climax. This track is an epic that is more like a journey full of EARthly delights!

The closing track, "Innocence and Fortune" is a beautiful song similar to the debut's closer "Dreams and Machines", but at around 7:45 we are treated to a romping piano solo which is then joined by acoustic guitar, bass and drums for one of those fantastic displays of talent that tell us why prog is better than mainstream pop! I recently played this part for someone I know whose music appreciation is entrenched in opera and classical, and she looked surprised and said, "But this isn't rock. This is really good music!"

I must give special mention to the very talented vocals of Danny Lopresto who can sing a variety of styles from acerbic and coarse heavy rock vocals to catchy pop melodies to softer singing. It's not often a super talented symphonic prog band hooks themselves up with a true singer.

Though either of Southern Empire's albums are a treat to listen to, I am most pleased to have both of them. They make a great pair! I'd gladly give this 4.5 stars if I could.

New young bands probably will prefer being compared to respected artists, could be helpful for gathering some reputation. Not necessary in this case. Concerning so much richness to detect the list would take half the review maybe. Well, nevertheless, this is a unique case, due to a very special outfit being shaped, while skillfully combining different styles, as there are neo prog, heavy art rock, jazz, folk, AOR, metal aso. And well crafted compositions are vital, on top of it a virtuoso execution is given to make it rounded. Now the last hurdle solely would be to reserve enough time for this gem, okay?

Danny Lopresto is serving very good lead vocals. On one hand somewhat AOR close in the vein of Bob Catley, Danny Bowes or maybe Mike Tramp. But then also more charming when it comes to the neo and art rock parts. Not to forget, furthermore, often demanded musician and producer Steve Unruh and german prog iconic figure Marek Arnold have been invited for some decorative adds via violin, flute and saxophone. The aforementioned long track might be emphasized as the ultimate highlight. Definitely a monster epic including multiple faces, nearly being out of equal. Recommended! 'Civilisation' delivers 70 minutes of intricate and highly melodic stuff - 4.5 stars.

Civilisation is the second album released by the Adelaide-based band Southern Empire.

After a disconcerting false start to the first song (several bars of what resembles a very scratchy gramophone record), the album gets off to a punchy start with Goliath's Moon, a well-crafted song written by guitarist Cam Blokland - over it's 9 minute- plus length, this song detours into some significant guitar pyrotechnics before returning to the well-crafted chorus, which becomes something of an earworm after a couple of listens.

The remaining four songs offer the sound of Southern Empire stretching their legs into more diverse musical territory and styles. Cries for the lonely stretches out to 19 plus minutes but doesn't outlast it's welcome.

The centrepiece of the album is Crossroads, which shares considerable musical and lyrical overlap with the song Travelling Man (The Story Of ESHU) as recorded by United Progressive Fraternity; UPF is the "other" band that, like Southern Empire, can trace it's ancestry to the earlier talented Adelaide band, Unitopia. Crossroads, like "The Bridge That Binds" (from the first SE album), twists and turns throughout it's 29 minute length through a range of styles and atmospheres from world music to a heavier onslaught; like "The Bridge That Binds", I find I can listen to it over and over again without losing interest.

Innocence & Fortunewraps up the album with yet another 9 minute-plus song that I've also found lasts up to repeated listening.

In a nutshell, this album is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys the music of bands such as Spock's Beard and IQ in particular, and of course Unitopia, with distinct - but not overwhelming - detours into progressive metal. More specifically, if you enjoyed the first, eponymous, album by Southern Empire, it is extremely likely that you will also enjoy this second musical expedition by SE; I think it's fair to say that Civilisation offers a continuity of approach but with diverse song-writing that never left me thinking that I was listening to "Southern Empire v.2". If you're not familiar with SE, I'd recommend that you give both their albums a listen.

A Rating of a strong 4 - this being my first review, I am not sure that I will ever give any album a rating of 5, apart from the known shortlist of "masterpieces of progressive rock music" (DSOTM, TAAB, CTTE, etc)

The rhythm section is superb. Love the lead vocals and background vocals. Keys are omnipresent and quite good, while the guitar is never overbearing despite being given many opportunities to shine by maestro Sean Timms.4.499(9) stars.

One of the striking features of Southern Empire is how they don't really sound like a progressive rock band actually. If you listen to the music with half an ear only the main details you'll mainly take note of is that the compositions by and large are fairly vocal driven, accessible and compelling throughout, and without too many of the intricate instrument details you tend to expect when listening to a band labeled as progressive rock one way or the other. Of course, when you start listening closer it does become rather obvious why progressive rock is the only fitting description for the music of this band, and it's not only due to one of the compositions being an almost 30 minutes long, multiple sectioned suite that this genre description has been chosen.

My main impression is that Yes is a good place to start when describing this band. 80's era Yes that is, alongside the Yes but not in name project Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & Howe towards the end of that decade. While not a dominating aspect of the music of Southerm Empire, certain recurring keyboard sounds and movements are comparable within this context, as are some of the tasteful and elegant vocal harmonies that appears here and there throughout. One might say that this aspect of this album is a commonly recurring feature rather than a red thread throughout though, as Southern Empire is about a lot more than this as well, and unlike the aforementioned possible influences the style here is actually a bit further removed from symphonic progressive rock as well.

Other recurring aspects of this album, and by and large more common as well, are gentler atmospheric laden passages more in line with late 80's neo progressive rock bands, and then most commonly alternating with and tied into harder edged passages sporting more powerful guitar and keyboards driven passages with a more distinct melodic hard rock sound, bordering melodic metal at times. Powerful and majestic, and less elaborate and quirky in execution than what you would expect from a progressive rock band. Or, as others might describe it, more accessible. Occasional details with a slight exotic or folk music tinge to them appears as well, and in the second half of this production interludes that takes the songs into jazz and jazzrock-oriented territories becomes a common and recurring feature as well, which expands the scope and depth of this CD quite a bit as well.

The quality, highly appealing lead vocals of Danny Lopresto is the most striking feature, and most likely what most will recall when reflecting on this album on first inspection, and the at times gorgeous vocal harmonies probably coming in at a close second. But there's ample room here also for elongated instrumental sections and solo runs of various kinds. Those who fancy striking, dramatic keyboard solo runs, blazing guitar soloing and combinations of those will find plenty to recall and enjoy as well. That there's also room for delicate saxophone motifs and elongated wandering piano runs is also something that should please listeners, especially those with a general taste for progressive rock I suspect.

Southern Empire comes across as a high quality band that have chosen to explore a rather broadly appealing variety of progressive rock, with room for sophisticated instrument sections and the occasional jazzrock oriented run just as much as for driving, energetic and vibrant melodic hard rock sections, in between more careful and atmospheric laden passages closer to neo-progressive rock. While rather different than both of them, I would suspect on a general basis that fans of bands such as Magic Pie and Spock's Beard might be something of a key audience for this band, and presumably quite a few of Unitopia's fans will also experience this album as a worthwhile experience.