Tag: Threnodies

Progradar Best Of 2016 – Shawn Dudley’s Top 10

Let’s face it, 2016 has not been the best year in human history, but it has been an exceptionally good year for music.  Seemingly every week something new would capture my imagination and become indispensible.  Due to the magnitude of choices putting together a year-end list became a daunting exercise.

What follows is not necessarily a traditional “top 10”, it’s a condensed selection of albums that made the most impact on me throughout the year.

Katatonia – The Fall Of Hearts

The Fall of Hearts was the easiest selection for this list; its place has been secure for months.  Nobody was more surprised than me as I had previously been ambivalent about Katatonia but this gorgeous, immaculately crafted album completely won me over. It’s a subtle, layered album that bears repeated listening, something I did almost daily for several months. The Fall of Hearts is their most mature and fully realized work to date, a rare instance of a band in their second decade who continue to evolve and improve their already unique sound.
Favorite tracks:  Takeover, Last Song Before The Fade, Shifts

Opeth -Sorceress

While the various factions of Opeth fans of different eras clash online, fruitlessly fighting for supremacy…Mikael Akerfeldt continues to laugh and do whatever the hell he wants. Sorceress continues Opeth’s exploration of vintage instrumentation that began with the controversial Heritage in 2011 and the more straight-forward and polished Pale Communion in 2014.  Sorceress goes against expectations by going for a rawer, heavier and more experimental approach.  It’s a stylistically diverse collection of songs with gorgeous folk rockers, heavy Prog epics and 70s inspired jams co-existing harmoniously.

Favorite tracks:  A Fleeting Glance, The Wilde Flowers, The Ward (bonus track)

Messenger – Threnodies

This sadly under-appreciated gem was easily one of the most enjoyable albums I heard all year. Messenger had the ability to work within the sonic framework of classic Prog, the instrumentation and vibe, yet not become a slave to it. Threnodies may offer up flashes of the past via inspiration; Wishbone Ash, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, CSN&Y; yet it sounds simultaneously modern and wholly relevant in 2016. Sadly the band has prematurely called it a day, but despite that I wouldn’t want you to miss out on hearing what they’ve left behind.
Favorite tracks:  Oracles Of War, Balearic Blue, Celestial Spheres

Seven Impale – Contrapasso

This thoroughly and wonderfully insane sextet from Norway was my favorite discovery of the year. Contrapasso is the type of album it’s best to just experience because describing it accurately is an exercise in futility. You’ll find elements of King Crimson, jazz-fusion, early 70s heavy metal and a love of the absurd, but that still just gives you a vague impression. The mixture of wonderfully heavy guitar and bass riffs, improvisational saxophone excursions and entertainingly theatrical vocals I find completely addictive.
Favorite tracks: Languor, Heresy, Inertia

Gong – Rejoice! I’m Dead!

Guitarist/Vocalist Kavus Torabi makes the first of two appearances on my year-end list. On Rejoice! I’m Dead! he effortlessly carries on the eclectic and joyful Gong; simultaneously a love letter to the recently departed founder Daevid Allen and a thoroughly rewarding work on its own merits.  It’s a wonderful collection of brief, quirky rockers and stretched-out fusion jam bliss. I love the sound of this album so much; I can’t help smiling whenever I play it. Who says Prog can’t be fun?
Favorite tracks: Rejoice!, The Unspeakable Stands Revealed, Kapital 

Knifeworld – Bottled Out Of Eden

Our second Kavus Torabi appearance is another blast of experimentally playful fun. Knifeworld sets the tone immediately with the thoroughly addictive High Aflame, an artfully arranged pop confection that is the perfect album opener. The horn section allows them to employ voicings that you don’t often here in progressive rock circles, not that this album really fits into the general guidelines of that term. In fact I’m not sure Knifeworld exists within the guidelines of anything but their own imagination.  I applaud them.

Oranssi Pazuzu – Värähtelijä

And now for something truly and beautifully frightening. This Finnish quintet has crafted an avant-garde treasure, a mixture of Space Rock, Jazz and caustic Black Metal that is supremely thrilling. The arrangements are incredibly dense, building layer upon layer of guitars, synths and scorched earth vocals that threaten to become atonal cacophony, but deftly remain right on the edge. It’s challenging, intense music, but also contains much beauty. If you’re feeling brave, I highly recommend it.
Favorite tracks:  Lahja, Havuluu, Vasemann Kaden Hierarkla

 

Haken – Affinity

I will admit that the technical end of Prog Metal is not my preferred style. I’ve never been inspired by the Dream Theater end of the spectrum, I can admire the craft, but it doesn’t generally speak to me. Haken is one of the few exceptions, a band whose audacious personality and jaw dropping musicianship manage to always remain entertaining. This is assisted by a welcome amount of dry humor that has a tendency to display itself on occasion. Affinity is their most complex and intricately constructed album yet, maybe not quite as accessible as The Mountain but just as artistically successful. The playfulness shows itself on the epic ‘1985’, a song built entirely on the instrumental sounds of the 80s that never devolves into parody and instead becomes poignant. Haken also continue to outgrow the limitations of Prog Metal, methodically expanding their musical vocabulary into new, unexpected areas. Affinity continues their winning streak of rewarding albums; I look forward to hearing where they go next.
Favorite tracks:  The Architect, Red Giant, 1985

Purson – Desire’s Magic Theatre

D.M.T. is Rosalie Cunningham’s love letter to the late 60s psychedelic and early progressive rock scene and the substances that often inspired them. What keeps it from becoming just a curio is the conviction she brings to her songs and how skillfully she applies the vintage instrumental sounds to create the required effect. The influences are plentiful; Hendrix, The Doors, Jethro Tull, Jefferson Airplane, King Crimson, Curved Air; but Rosalie has taken that inspiration and applied it to her own organic and highly enjoyable compositions.  It’s a fun album that is worth investigating, with or without the accompanying substances.

Favorite tracks:  Electric Landlady, Pedigree Chums, The Bitter Suite

Khemmis – Hunted 

In addition to Progressive Rock and Jazz I’ve also been a Heavy Metal fan for over 30 years. I don’t listen to straight-ahead metal very often these days but occasionally I’ll hear something that reawakens that old love of chugging, galloping riffs and thunderous drums. Khemmis is a young band from Denver whose latest album Hunted kicked my ass right and proper. Their sound is a tasty mix of doomy Candlemass/Trouble riffs, dual harmony lead guitars and NWOBHM inspired attitude. Satisfyingly crushing yet consistently melodic and inspired, these guys nail all the metallic requirements with their muscular performances and above-average songwriting.  My neck hurts…
Favorite songs:  Above The Water, Candlelight, Hunted

 

 

 

 

 

Review – Messenger – Threnodies – by Shawn Dudley

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What a difference 20 years makes. In the far distant past of the 1990s, “Prog” was still a dirty word; reviled, ridiculed and lampooned by the critical establishment and cynical music fans alike. You could count the number of bands playing the music on two hands and you’d still have fingers to spare.

Fast forward to 2016 and it’s the mirror image; Prog is seemingly everywhere.  The critics have thawed, the stigma has mostly dissipated, new generations are discovering it and the old guard fans have climbed out of the caves and fallout shelters they’ve been hiding in to proudly proclaim; “Told you so!” Hell, it’s almost respectable!

This has inspired a dizzying number of new bands and a blizzard of new Prog releases each month. There are so many that sometimes I fear I’m going to be buried under an avalanche of mellotrons, organs and shifting time signatures. Yet thankfully, despite the overabundance of choices there are still albums that really leap out from the multitude, grab me by the shoulders and demand I pay attention. ‘Threnodies’, the second full-length release from London-based quintet Messenger is one such album.

Their prior album ‘Illusory Blues was a dream-like affair, an intoxicating blend of folk rock intimacy and Pink Floyd-ish soundscapes. Primarily acoustic and beautifully restrained, it conjured up images of the flower-power past while still sounding firmly relevant to the 21st century.  The album did occasionally hint at a more powerful beast lurking beneath the surface. There were moments in songs like Midnight and The Return that briefly notched up the intensity, a teaser for possible future sonic explorations that ‘Threnodies’ gloriously fulfills.

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Opening track Calyx demonstrates this newfound muscularity in an amusingly surreptitious way. Beginning in a stylistically similar fashion to their prior release, it’s a floating, ethereal arrangement with only the extroverted drumming of Jaime Gomez Arellano indicating what is to come. A little past the halfway point the song quietly fades out and then a pulsating synth riff fades in to introduce the explosive conclusion. And what a joyous sound it is! A swirling vortex of powerful drumming, acoustic piano, thunderous bass and a wall of warmly distorted guitar, it’s a thrilling introduction, a preface to even more visceral delights to come.

The appropriately titled Oracles of War was the “hallelujah moment” for me. A song that begins with a riff that had me instantly reaching for the volume control to add a few more decibels of heft. It’s a doom riff that would make Tony Iommi proud. Then the swirling organ comes in and we’re transported back to the wonderful sonic time where giants like Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple roamed the land, laying waste to eardrums with gleeful abandon. This track puts a big goofy grin on my face that just won’t go away. Please don’t call it “Prog Metal”, that would be a disservice. Progressive rock and heavy metal were born together, siblings with more in common than not, cruelly separated by record labels into more easily marketable factions. Oracles of War reunites them in spirit and it’s a most happy reunion. At the halfway point the intensity drops and a calm enters, I hear a definite influence from the LA folk-rock scene in this section, hints of CSN&Y and Buffalo Springfield. It made me ponder an alternate universe where Ken Hensley and Tony Iommi went to Stephen Stills’ house in Laurel Canyon for a jam session.

It’s a testament to how good Messenger really is that they don’t belabor the point and remain on that one sound. We then venture into the gorgeous Balearic Blue, a dip into crystalline musical waters, a refreshing cool-down from the prior intensity. A truly lovely song with a beautiful ringing guitar sound and understated electric piano, mellotron and organ, propelled by the nimble interplay of the rhythm section.  It’s a delight.

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Album highlight Celestial Spheres is up next, an infectious arrangement that blends the progressive rock sophistication with the loose jam band qualities that came so naturally to bands in the early 70s. Too often these days bands choose one path or the other, thankfully Messenger has the talent and the songwriters to meld them together seamlessly and organically. I also have to mention the inspired guitar interplay of Khaled Lowe and Barnaby Maddick, they complement each other so well and inspire memories of jamming Wishbone Ash and Allman Brothers records when I was a youngster. Speaking of guitars, the riff that comes in around the 4:20 mark and introduces the ending section is another gem on an album full of them. This is the type of song I’d like to hear them play live and stretch out on.

Nocturne begins in a darker more mournful vibe and features a thunderously heavy riff punctuated by the huge bass sound of James Leach. Then, in the last third, the dark clouds part and a lovely acoustic guitar section prepares us for the catchy folk & jam rock groove of Pareidolia. The ending section of that piece brings us back around to Pink Floyd territory, from the ‘Wish You Were Here/Animals’ era.

The album closer Crown of Ashes brings the Wishbone Ash influence back with a lovely lyrical guitar line and closes the album out on an uplifting, laid-back note.

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All told I’m thoroughly impressed with Messenger, one of my favorite discoveries of the past couple years and a band that I predict even greater things from in the future.  ‘Threnodies’ is sure to be high on my best of 2016 list, I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

Released 22nd April 2016

Buy ‘Threnodies’ direct from the band