My lesser known and unknown new prog bands thread

CREPUSCULE – L’Hymne A La Vie (****)

This is a German band, rooted in 1984 and founded by the brothers Franco and Gerald Rouvinez, both born in the French part of Switzerland. The aboslute highight in their long history is a joint performance with the legendary French progrock band Ange. In 1996 Crépuscule released their debuut CD entitled Les Lunes Se Lèvent that contains a blend of rock and French ‘chansons’, followed by the ‘unplugged’ CD Signe De Vie with old and new songs. And now we can enjoy the new album L’Hymne A La Vie, first part of a musical project, the next album will be released within 3 years.<p> Despite the many hints to the music of Ange in this intro, only the powerful, expressive and sometimes theatrical vocals reminds me of early Ange, like in the songs Prologue RE and L’Armada. But in general the 19 melodic songs (in five parts between 3 and 21 minutes) are very tastefully arranged with the focus on the elements variety and creativity, what a wonderful and often compelling music this is: a slow rhythm with howling guitar runs (in the vein of Steve Rothery) and lush organ, followed by a tight rhythm with propulsive guitar riffs in Après Un Pas, harpsichord-like flights and slide-guitar in the dreamy L’Arbre Del Arrêt, a captivating contrast  between soaring keyboards with theatricals vocals and a compelling rhythm with howling guitar runs in Prologue RE, swinging neo-prog with ‘slap’ bas work and a delicate synthesizer solo in La Créature, expressive vocals, beautiful play on acoustic – and electric guitar and a majestic grand finale with a church organ sound and guitar in the moving Moeurs, an electronic oriented atmosphere with wonderful keyboard work in Prologue EL and varied sounds and a final part with a bombastich church organ sound in Mort De L’Irréel.<p> For me “never a dull moment’ on this almost 70 minutes long CD, what a captivating prog, highly recommended to those who are up to French vocals! By the way, the packaging is in DVD format and contains a huge booklet with lyrics in French and German and I have read that Crépuscule is planning to tour with a wonderful lightshow, video clips and masks, check out this amazing German band!

GALLERY – Jas Grippen (***)

- This is a new Norwegian five piece band, their debut CD entitled Jas Grippen is released this year (2007). The music reminde me of their progrock neighbours Anekdoten because of the melancholical vocals and the dynamics between the mellow parts and fluent rhythms. But Gallery sounds more raw and but not Mellotron drenched, in fact you can categorize it as melodic rock with progressive tendencies.

Gallery plays tight and powerful, especially in the songs with fluent rhythms and propulsive guitar work, accompanied by an adventurous rhythm-section. The guitarplay is tasteful (from relaxed twanging chords to fiery and howling soli) and the keyboards sound functional but varied and pleasant (from piano and organ to even some violin-Mellotron. This band has chosen for tastefully arranged compositions instead of complexity and many soli. If you like melodic rock with progressive ideas, this is a band to check out.

- Italian formation Mass Media made music in the Seventies but they have reunited because the label Electromantic invited the band to make a new album, the current line-up features three original members.

The CD Criptoidea contains 13 songs, four have (Italian) vocals, the rest is instrumental. The music often delivers swinging and fluent jazzrock (echoes from Mahavishnu Orchestra and Brand X) with lots of guitar and Fender Rhodes electric piano (along Hammond organ and synthesizers) and a very adventurous, often propulsive rhythm-section. I am impressed by the musicians their skills and interplay, it’s obvious they are very experienced and know each other very well in musical terms. I am delighted about the parts in which the guitar is supported by strings/ a propulsive rhythm-section and the duels between guitar and keyboards, what an energy. The final composition Suite Del Ringraziamento is a tribute to some classical composers and keyboardists Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. It is recorded live in the studio and contains short renditions of compositions by Bach (Badinerie and Preludio), Mozart (Rondo A La Turca), Bernstein (America), Brubeck (Blue Rondo A La Turk), Copland (Hoedown) and Wakeman (Catherine Howard). We can enjoy sparkling piano and fiery guitar and great interplay between guitar and keyboards, remarkably is the fiery electric guitar in Hoedown instead of the fat synthesizer sound.

I am sure this CD wil please many jazzrock fans, what a stunning band and what an exciting CD!

- This is a new Hungarian band that delivers a pleasant and melodic blend of prog and folk. I general the focus is on the vocals (male and female, several duo’s and many voal harmonies) and the songs sound simple but pleasant featuring some keyboards (organ, piano, soaring keyboards), strong electric guitar play (from propulsive riffs and sensitive runs to fiery wah-wah) and especially a lush folk sound by (thanks to Hungarian proghead Norbert):

-furulyák=flutes, rather a folky flute than the likes used in a symphonic orchestra or by Thijs Van Leer for instance.

- töröksíp is probably equal with tárogató, a very old woodwind instrument with a rather powerful sound

- torokének is a weird kind of singing similar with shaman chantings.

- doromb is Jew's harp, a small instrument

Because of the Hungarian language and the rocky element, the recent Omega comes to my mind but in general it sounds as an original and pleasant blend of prog and folk.

TRAUMPFAD – Die Kreise Schliessen Sich (***1/5)

The German quintet Traumpfad was founded in the late Nineties and exists in their recent line-up since 2003. In 2004 they released their eponymous debut-CD and two years later we can enjoy this second effort. Because of the German vocals the music reminds me of early Novalis and the album Wer Will? by Anabis. Their music is rooted in the melodic rock tradition but the frequent shifting moods, surprising breaks and frequent use of keyboards turnes this band into an interesting band for progheads.

The nine composiitons sound elaborate and tasteful featuring lots of variety, strong soli on guitar and keyboards, a dynamic rhythm-section and good vocals. The one moment you hear a fluent rhythm with fat synthesizer flights, propulsive guitar riffs and fiery guitar play, the other moment yoiuare carried away by classical piano, sensitive guitar or a dreamy climate with fragile piano and romantic vocals. My favorite tracks on this CD are Der Kreislauf Beginnt (propulsive with heavy guitar and bombastic keyboards and a final part with captivating interplay between keyboards and guitar), Der Nächste Winter Kommt Bestimmt (alternating featuring a wonderful grand finale with organ, dynamic drums and fiery guitar), Totes Meer (a beautiful, very sensitive guitar solo loaded with howling runs), the exciting and strongly build-up titletrack (spectacular keyboards, a wonderful, dreamy break with a lush strings-sound and violin-Mellotron and again a howling guitar solo) and the final track Ein Neuer Tag: first a dreamy part, then more and more compelling, culminating in a 24-carat symphonic prog closing section featuring moving work on keyboards and guitar, Progheaven!

I am delighted about this pleasant and dynamic debut-CD and it sounds original, also because of the german vocals, recommended!

VLAD V

Here’s a Brasilian quartet that was founded in ’86, the name is derived from a hero in the Roman history. The band is Jean Carlo (vocals, flute, guitar, violin, banjo and harmonica), Beto Luciani (guitar and violin), Claudio Reif (bass), Jairson Dorigatti (keyboards and accordeon) and Flavio Theilacher (keyboards and percussion). It lasted until the early Nineties to make a serie of records: “Vlad V” (’94), “Espada e o dragao” (’96), “O quinto sol” (’99) and “Volume IV” (2003). The most obvious influences are JETHRO TULL and FOCUS (swirling fluteplay) but in general their sound is quite unique with passionate Portuguese vocals.

The third album “O quinto sol” is a pleasant blend of several styles (folk, blues, rock, prog) with the use of many instruments (violin, flute, acoustic – and electric guitars, bandolin, mouth-organ). The compositions are melodic and alternating, from dreamy with folky instruments till up-tempo with heavy guitarwork.

The fourth album “Volume IV” is in the vein of the third but has more hints from JETHRO TULL (even some covers). Most of the compositions sound pleasant with many shifting moods (even an Eastern climate) but some heavier tracks lack fresh ideas, a bit too much from the same. Nonetheless this is a promising progrock band.

- The sound from this French five piece on their debut CD entitled Le Masque D’Arlequin reminds me of the ‘Vikings’ of Europe: fluent rhythms featuring propulsive guitar riffs, a heavy rhythm-section and symptuous keyboard layers with lots of room for biting guitar runs and flashy synthesizer flights. But White Chapel has a less polished and more adventurous approach than Europe. The vocals are in French, I am not surprised that in the booklet he mentions Christian Dechamps, singer of the legendary French progrock band Ange. Between the mainly fluent, heavy and bombastic inspired tracks, we can also trace some mellow songs like the dreamy Elixer and the compelling Sarajevo (from the former Yugoslavia), you can feel the emotion about the sad history in the howling runs!

Although White Chapel sounds quite heavy, I won’t describe it as a progmetal band, to me it sounds more as a blend of ‘Gothic’, prog and hardrock/heavy metal, very tasteful and exciting.

My rating: 3 stars