BLOOD OF THE BERRY

"Blood Of The Berry" is the second full-length studio album by US, Georgia based progressive rock act Timothy Pure. The album was released through Isosceles Records in 1997. It´s the successor to "The Fabric of Betrayal" from 1995. "Blood Of The Berry" is a concept album dealing with love and the sacrifices you sometimes have to make to find it.

Although the material on "Blood Of The Berry" is undeniably progressive rock, this is not progressive rock which is complex in structure and you won´t find many challenging instrumental sections here either. Instead the songs are relatively regular vers/chorus structured and focus a lot on melancholic atmospheres and slowly building towards epic climaxes (although the album occasionally features longer instrumental parts, but they are atmospheric in nature rather than technically challening). So it´s dynamic music often featuring both mellow and louder (even slightly heavy at times) moments. The influences range from Pink Floyd, to Porcupine Tree, to Marillion.

The strong voice and emotional delivery of lead vocalist Matthew Still is the most dominant feature of "Blood Of The Berry", but the band skillfully backs him up with atmospheric keyboards/piano and guitars, and a well playing rhythm section. Timothy Pure are arguably a well playing unit loaded with skilled musicians. The sound production is decent but lacks the warmth, depth, and organic features to elevate the band´s music to a higher state. The drums are for example often very low in the mix and the bass is many times almost inaudible. So there is a lack of balance between the instruments in the mix.

Despite a few issues "Blood Of The Berry" is still a high quality progressive rock release and fans of the more emotional and melancholic part of the progressive rock scene may find this an interesting listen. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.