THE STARE

CONSIDER THE SOURCE consists of true prog veterans at this point as 2024 marks the 20th year of this New York City band's existence. This power trio has been cranking out its eclectic instrumental prog music since its debut 2007 release "Esperanto" and has been steadily recording and incessantly touring ever since having embarked on many world tours with a huge following in not only the USA but also Germany, Israel and Turkey. These guys have returned after a three year hiatus with their newest musical offering to the prog world with the seventh album THE STARE. Once again CONSIDER THE SOURCE has embarked on a totally different journey than what came before which has been its trademark all along as this band isn't content only to create its own distinct sound but to reinvent itself with every album, something most bands avoid like the plague as these days they prefer to follow the safer retro path or just stick to their established comfort zone.

THE STARE is a much more stripped down affair than the previous "Hybrid Vol 1 - Such As A Mule" which went batsh.i.t crazy with its expansive roster of ethnic world musical instruments. This album while still featuring the band's knack for incorporating Turkish folk and Indian classical influences into its smorgasbord of eclecticism this time around crafts all their creative mojo simply into the triumvirate possibilities of the Gabriel Marin's double neck guitar, John Ferrara's bass playing along with synthesizer moments as well as drummer Jeff Mann handling all the varying percussion duties. While tackling the usual motifs that merge the world of avant-prog and jazz fusion with the indie rock inspired prog like Thank You Scientist, CONSIDER THE SOURCE has added a new heaviness to its sound on THE STARE which finds heavy hitting guitar chugging a la Tool, King Crimson and even moments of Steve Vai like guitar wankery. Another development in the world of CTS is that THE STARE marks the very first time the band has worked with a real producer as so far this band as remained fairly independent.

The producer decision was actually quite accidental as the band was simply playing live in a small Colorado town one fateful night where Dream Theater producer David Prater just happened to recently move to and just happened to be at the show. Prater was impressed with the band's unique sound and musical skill and after hitting it off ended up working with the band. Despite emerging in 2024 THE STARE was recorded as far back as 2020 and was one of those victim of the pandemic releases where the band was forced off the road and sent home to sputter out any musical ideas that had been stirring about in the old noggins. CTS and Prater spent ten days in an Asheville, North Carolina for the recording process where Prater helped the band develop to the next level and just one listen to THE STARE and it's obvious how a professional producer took the band into the arenas of epic prog. The album features five tracks. three on the longer side over eight minutes and a couple between five and seven. The band's fusion abilities is off the charts unique and it's often hard to tell if the music is more inspired at times by prog, jazz, metal, ethnic music or spaghetti westerns!

The opening "Trial By Stone" balances an atmospheric psychedelic touch with melodic guitar riffs and bouncing Geddy Lee styled bass grooves along with the accompanying percussive drive. What sounds like wordless vocals is supposed to be coming from the guitar effects which Marin has a lot of. This 13-minute track maintains a basic melodic flow but picks up intensity and showcases nice prog moments such as a classical guitar interlude and nice time signature complexities in between the cracks of the fairly melodic musical flow. The tracks are fairly diverse with many rotating elements whether they come from the acoustic Spanish guitar intro of "I Can See My Eyes" which also features a feisty guitar solo towards the end or the more traditional Turkish folk track "New World Čoček" which at nearly 10 minutes in length effortlessly weaves the world of Turkish folk into a nice crafty prog composition. "Mouthbreather" features the heaviest sounds of the album but yet maintains that unique atmospheric backdrop. The ending "Preemptive Vengeance" provides an ethereal closer that somewhat resembles a psychedelic proggy version of a spaghetti western.

It's no easy task crafting unique instrumental prog in the 21st century but a few brave intrepid and talented musicians have taken on the tasks. The Aristocrats, Animals As Leaders, Scale The Summit, Russian Circles and many have taken this road and successfully crafted their own signature sounds. Add CONSIDER THE SOURCE to this list of amazingly talented musicians who sound no like other. Somehow the band manages to simultaneously create unique atmospheric backdrops while it blends together three common rock instruments in a multitude of clever idiosyncratic ways. The album provides nice calming mellowness as well as more energetic adrenalized heavy rock outbursts. The mix of influences ranging from diverse acts such as Ozric Tentacles, King Crimson, Wyclef Jean, Tool, Secret Chiefs 3, Mahavishnu Orchestra and a multitude of Turkish, Indian and other ethnic sources offer a true melting pot of planetary fusion dished out in a musical precision that makes this a most pleasing listening experience. While the album cover resembles more of an early 90s thrash metal act, the music is more on the uplifting side with light warm melodies keeping the technical wizardry churning along. Very nice album indeed.