CHASING THE LESSER LIGHT

It has been a while since I last listened to "Face of Life", the previous Kinetic Element album and the first to include Peter Matuchniak on guitar and Saint John Coleman on vocals. I remember being impressed with the classic seventies prog-styled music, but too much has passed into my ears since then. (I have it ready to hear soon again.) So, without any fresh memories, I plugged into "Chasing the Lesser Light" and was on the first listen wowed by what I heard.

Kinetic Element claim to be for fans of Emerson Lake & Palmer, classic Yes and early Genesis, with nods to keyboard bands like Triumvirate and Le Orme. This is most certainly true when you hear it. There are moments when I could imagine Tarkus rumbling onto the scene or the mysterious entanglement of Felona and Serona. There's even a moment in "Door to Forever" where I hear some Pink Floyd tribute happening. Beng familiar with Peter Matuchniak's guitar playing in other bands, I recognized his playing but not as often as I imagined I should. Instead of making his signature sound and style stand out as he did on older albums such as his solo releases or with Gekko Projekt, Peter seems to easily become part of this classic seventies prog concoction. Along with Mike Visaggio's exciting organ, synthesizer and piano solos, Mark Tupko's Chris Squire/Mike Rutherford Rickenbacher bass, and Michael Murry's "4/4 beats are just one small tool in my massive toolbox" drum playing, Peter's guitar fits in like a member of the band rather than a new face to show off.

The compositions are credited two to Mike, two to Peter, and one to the pair of them. In true classic prog styling, each track, whether a little long or an epic, takes the listener on various prog adventures, with changes happening quite frequently. The concept of the album is humanity's quest to set foot on celestial bodies beyond our own. Lyrics cover the space race of the sixties, the first trip to the moon, the plans to reach Mars, and heading to the great beyond. It requires far too much detail to describe each track for all the twists and turns, but rest assured that if the "for fans of" description sounds like its written for you, you will enjoy the music.

A few words should be said about vocalist Saint John Coleman. As mentioned in Kev Rowland's review, Coleman does reach hard for the notes sometimes and there are moments where I feel he is struggling to be in key. However, there are also moments where I worried he would not be able to hit some of the higher notes and yet he did and with vibrato to boot. He adopts a variety of singing approaches, some very suitable to the music, such as taking on a hint of a little boy's sentiment when singing the role of the son of the astronaut in "Radio Silence". Coleman moves between lighter vocal approaches that must keep up with the tricky pacing of the music and operatic moments that test if not tax his abilities. Nevertheless, aside from a few moments where the train seems in danger of going off the rails, Coleman pulls of a few incredible moments as well.

To wrap up, the musical performance on this album is really sharp and easily sounds like it belongs in 1972. The gentleman with sticks, keys and strings have put together a masterful work. I really do need to hear that previous album again!