SOUL ALERT

SPECIAL PROVIDENCE are a four piece Jazz/Metal band out of Hungary and this is album number three from 2011. I have the first two studio albums as well and I would highly recommend their debut "Space Cafe", a solid 4 star record. The next one and this one called "Soul Alert" are both 3.5 star albums in my opinion but the second one I rated at three stars and this one I'm bumping up to 4 stars as it is a step better than the last one they did. It's interesting that the band has brought in a singer for one track on each of the first three albums, kind of like what LONG DISTANCE CALLING were doing early in their careers.

These are virtuoso players, all going to music schools to improve their skills and it shows. The sound quality is perfect and man this is complex but they never lose sight of melody on here. The drummer really stands out for me but all four are amazing. I love how jazzy this is and seeing people refer to them as a Jazz band is pretty cool given how heavy these guys can get when they switch to Prog-Metal, and often this happens on a dime. My biggest issue with this record is the sounds of the synths and how prominent they are, but there's no way I can dismiss what incredible compositions and playing is going on here.

Ten tracks worth 60 minutes and right from the first spin this had my undivided attention. It just seems like a while that I've listened to such heavy and complex music, but that is the minority on here as this really is Jazz/Fusion for the most part. The opener "Babel Confusion" is a great example of this as it opens with heavy outbursts with screaming sounds in there too before settling into a Jazz mood with piano, bass and drums. Some beautiful music before 3 minutes but also we get synths and guitar scorching the soundscape at times on this one.

"K2" is interesting the way they use the synths to pulse and we drift kind of close to someone like myself pulling out some dance moves here. This is far from a perfect album in my world and it's the synths that make this somewhat defective sounding at times. I would also suggest that these sections would go over well in a live setting, and this band plays at festivals and other live events quite often, at least they did back in the late 00's early 10's. The vocal track is okay but the one thing I liked about LONG DISTANCE CALLING is that it always felt like the one vocal track they added was the best song on the record or at least a top three, not like on here.

Instrumentally this is a lights-out recording but unless you like Metal and Jazz this might not be for you. A low 4 stars.