WORMWOOD

A young Lebanese musician and artwork designer, Bader Nana plays multiple instruments and his most well-known collaboration was with the Extreme Metal band Benevolent from Kuwait.Since 2009 Nana had resided to Kuwait City and started recording his personal albums, kicking off with an acoustic tribute to famous Michael Jackson's pieces, followed in 2011 by the ''Wormwood'' album, containing original material.Nana receives little help by a pair of guests in a couple of synth and guitar solos, the rest of the album being totally performed by himself.

With an undenied love for current and past Prog Metal/Rock acts such as PINK FLOYD, TRANSATLANTIC, SYMPHONY X, DREAM THEATER and SPOCK'S BEARD, Nana managed to put up an album with some reasonable flaws, considering this is a one man's effort, but also a work full of sheer passion and rich arrangements.His vocals are quite nice, modern sounding and fairly expressive, while the music talks of Nana's talent.Powerful and dynamic pieces with sharp guitar riffs, keyboard-based orchestrations, Neo Prog-like melodies and bombastic passages.Nana shows a tendency to combine the heavier and more angular side of Progressive Rock, characterized by his metallic riffing and the fiery synthesizers, with the smoother side of the genre, including acoustic textures, nice electric melodic tunes and mellow songwriting.It kind of reminds me of PENDRAGON's later stuff with doses of more recent acts such as RIVERSEA, COSMOGRAF or NINE STONES CLOSE.The long closer ''Destroyer of worlds'' is the perfect example of his musical influences, being a well-constructed piece of Prog Metal, FLOYD-ian soundscapes and grandiose Neo/Symphonic Prog with very good guitar parts and extended orchestral moves, filled with some impressive breaks.

A talented artist from the depth of Asia comes to remind us that Prog music is a worldwide affair.Music played with passion and energy, wrapped in tight and enjoyable pieces.Recommended.