THE PASSING

"The Passing" Jacob ROBERGE's first album is the fruit of ten years of hard work, let it be said. It addresses the themes of mourning and memory but with joy if one can say so. The delicate piano theme that introduces "The Long Way Home" is a good shortcut for what will follow, the symphonism heard in this title is only the hors d'oeuvre of a major work (9/10). The first part of "Empty Traces" is a little more passe partout although remaining ultra melodic, always this loose and heady piano in the spotlight (8/10) and a small solo of six strings in the middle. "Garden of Souls" sends a probably involuntary but emphatic wink to the Californian eagles (listen again to "The Last Resort"), a piece of overflowing symphonism and lyricism, just a little too repetitive for the vocal parts as far as I'm concerned (9/10).

The longest "Petrichor" which comes next, remains in the same musical model, a lot of piano, acoustic guitar this time before the electric which arrives later, certainly the track that I had the most difficulty judging (despite five listens) and the one that I like the least on the album a 7/10 only, the saxophone halfway through refers more to EARTH WIND & FIRE than to SUPERTRAMP (soft and very brassy). I clearly preferred the second part of "Empty Traces" all in emotional restraint, well-placed and not invasive choirs, and a magnificent guitar solo which starts at 2:01, a real and beautiful progressive canvas (9/10).

There is only one left, the eponymous piece "The Passing" which evokes the five stages of mourning and which displays thirty-two minutes on the hourglass, starting with an orgy of strings that we will find a little later in the piece and which offers an instrumental part of more than six minutes in the opening no less, the solo of six strings of the fourteenth minute (Gabriel CYR) is particularly brilliant. An ode to the progressive music that we cherish so much, listening is the only thing to do, a real auditory pleasure, obviously a (10/10) perfectly justified, even metalheads will be happy with the part starting at 25:50 which climbs high in the towers before the delicate pianistic return of the terminal phase.

The only criticism I would make of Jacob ROBERGE, all the tracks are more or less similar, a downside that remains minor in view of the overall quality of the work.

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