LIFE CYCLE

Kramer is a fairly new Dutch prog rock band that plays a style in between neo and symphonic prog. I asked them myself and they felt neo is ok. I can agree but the reason I had my doubts was their resemblance with fellow Dutch band Mangrove and that band is listed under symphonic prog so let's say it's somewhere in between and after all both subgenres are strongly related so I'm ok with the team's choice.

I also asked vocalist Marc Besselink if there was a second album on the way because the release from 2007, Life Cycle, is their only album so far. The answer was that we will have to wait for at least another 6 months probably but at least they are progressing so that is good news. The debut is an impressive effort to say the least and I will tell some more about it.

The funny thing is that last few years I mostly buy albums based on rumours or reviews on our own site and Kramer was not yet included when I decided to buy this album. So this is more or less an exception that I still decided to buy probably already then hoping for inclusion in the future. We are at that point now at last and I think it's a matter of justice. I compared them like I said above with Dutch band Mangrove and then I especially I mean their lyrical approach. Both bands write about love and life and the past of those things and both manage to create some excellent music around those lyrics.

Life Cycle starts with a quiet slower track that sounds like a sort of overture for the concept album this proves to be. Well, the title says it all really, Life Cycle surely gives the impression of a story of life and then it's logical the whole album is about that as a sort of story. I have never really analyzed the lyrics and wondered how the story goes in detail, I rarely do really but it's obvious that this is someone looking back at his life at least at some important moments in it. Maybe it's not the most original idea ever but the advantage is that you have the opportunity to create an entire album at one time instead of having to think of a new subject for each song. I think they did very well here. It sounds to me like a concept that absolutely worked out fine. I like the build up in many tracks like second Remember me or halfway the album the amazing Escape into a Dream and We Mortals, my personal favorites with stunning compositional moments.

But what I like most of Life Cycle is that it's a 70 minute treat of only great music. I can detect no weak moments on this debut and I'm actually even contemplating the full score here. The strange thing is that some Dutch prog sites were pretty critical about Life Cycle. I don't agree at all with them. But maybe 5 stars is a bit too much in the end. After all we have to give them some room for improvement, don't we ? Well, improvement, on what ? On an almost perfect album ? Maybe I'm exaggerating and it's probably not a perfect masterpiece. But at least I can recommend it to symphonic and neo fans if they got curious. I will keep the score at 4 stars ultimately but those are very well deserved (4,25).