HOLOCAUST

This is a decent and mildly intriguing symphonic progressive album with fusion elements that might appeal a great deal to some of us, but not one I ever have a great hankering to hear. While there are disjointed lovely moments and good playing throughout, very little really jumps out and says "I am here and I have something unique to say". Rather blatant references to King Crimson are everywhere, from the guitar stylings to the liberal use of mellotron, hinting at works such as "The Night Watch" and some earlier material without really capturing their magic, yet nonetheless sounding clean and professional if not a little antiseptic in the production.

The band is ultimately most interesting when they meld the long out of vogue early prog influences to their indigenous traditions, particularly in Lamentacions, which almost sounds like what the contemporary Spanish group Amarok would do over 20 years later. Quite beautiful sounding yet, like the rest of the album, nothing you will find yourself humming or playing over in your head 10 minutes later.

Holocaust Part 1 has more buildup aka progression where the synths and mellotrons trade off against a heavy rhythm guitar and bass. Then a very Frippian wail envelopes the increasingly chaotic undercurrent. Followed by synthesizer sounds from an unwritten horror movie soundtrack, this works pretty well and should appeal to those into the heavier side of symphonic prog.

Other than in Holocaust Part 2 which is actually somewhat overwrought in a Locanda Della Fate kind of way, I think what is missing most from this album is an emotional component, but it could be argued that this is done deliberately to signify the defense mechanisms required to cope with a Holocaust. Not knowing the meaning of the scant lyrics, I cannot actually say whether what is being expressed corroborates with that thesis.

Very much an average album with not enough great moments to lift it above the fray, but also very little that is notably weak. I can neither recommend it wholeheartedly nor diss it mercilessly.