Progressive Rock
Ruud Jolie’s (Within Temptation) intermittent project returns after seven years of silence. Joined by the regulars — Kristoffer Gildenlöw on bass (ex-Pain of Salvation), whose latest solo album we’ve also reviewed, Léo Margarit on drums, doing a magnificent job across the whole album (Pain of Salvation), and Wudstik on vocals (ex-The Voice in the Netherlands) — they come together once more for the band’s third full-length.
It’s an album with a great deal of musical richness and a stylistic fusion that works really well. Easy to listen to, and an excellent gateway for introducing other audiences to progressive rock.
A pleasant introduction, with a certain pop feel that recalls Spock’s Beard or The Flower Kings, especially in the keyboards, harmonies and dynamics, serves as “Forced to Be Free”’s calling card. The production is excellent, as shown right at the start of the guitar solo, where a subtle, slightly detuned guitar double appears, only to drop away shortly after and let the lead guitar take over. The way out of the solo couldn’t be more neo-prog, with a rhythmic melody spilling into the choruses. A fade-out effect is chosen for the ending of a track that gives off good vibes.
Magnificent drumming, courtesy of Margarit, takes centre stage on “Lifeline”, since after the main riff, the vocals deliver the first verse fairly bare over the top of it. We find another pretty, catchy chorus that connects into the instrumental motif. After a full-band verse, the chorus returns and we move into the track’s more relaxed section, which, progressively (that’s the nature of prog for you), offers a more ambient passage that sets up the ending using material already heard.
More electronic arrangements wrap around the vocals on “This Hell We Know”. The sudden entry of the chorus, with a touch of pretty-rock sheen, contrasts with the return of the opening dynamic, so it’s no surprise when the same trick repeats itself later on. This second time, though, they go for a dark, dense, harsh riff instead, set in a minor key to heighten the confrontation. We move into a very melodic section that can bring to mind the lyricism of Agent Fresco, and another brilliant performance from Léo Margarit lets the track turn progressively rawer, right up to a passage bordering on thrash metal. And just as you’re settling into that mood, the slightly saccharine chorus returns, cutting the vibe and pleasantly surprising you at the same time. The final coda explores gentle textures, where the guitars weave several motifs together.
A keyboard melody mimicking a piano is the leitmotif of “The Future That Came Too Soon”’s introduction. What follows is a fairly rich instrumental section that gives way to verses and choruses with a fairly pop, slightly syrupy character, though with some genuinely curious arrangements giving it a different dynamic. Even so, the structure isn’t overly complicated, since after that comes the guitar solo and a fairly extensive interlude that spills into a vocal coda, before the opening melodies return for a very coherent close.
The more acoustic textures of “All We Did Was Hide” give us a fairly forgettable little ballad, the kind of filler track the record perhaps needed to round out its wardrobe. “Hush” plays a similar supporting role, a track marked by a wordless vocal melody over a simple rhythm section.
Back into more rocking territory, we get the powerful opening of “Remind Me to Forget You”, which settles down for the verse before picking up momentum again in the chorus. Repeating the formula might be predictable, but it’s no less effective or logical within the composition. Overall, the sweetness of the vocal melodies ends up striking a good counterpoint against the intensity of the rest of the instrumentation, as the interlude that follows makes clear.
“Flaws” returns to melodic-ballad territory in its opening bars, but soon starts hostilities with biting riffs that get arranged with real grace and some interesting harmonisations. The vocal melodies in the chorus are a little less successful, perhaps erring too far on the side of prettiness given that this section rests on a fairly forceful ostinato — quite the opposite of the verse melodies, which aim for more aggression. Either way, the interplay between power and subtlety that runs through the whole track is worth noting, making it a genuinely interesting piece.
The home stretch arrives with three relatively short tracks, for a prog band’s record. The first is “Guide Me in Getting Lost”, a kind of pop piece wrapped in arrangements that lean towards progressive rock. Here you can see the way Ruud Jolie approaches music, the same approach that’s earned him so many detractors among metal fans, referring to his work in Within Temptation, who always accuse him of playing fake metal. We could jump on that bandwagon and say he’s making fake prog here too, but we won’t push it too far, since there are enough elements, especially towards the end, that genuinely earn it that label.
“Ghost of Summer’s Past” travels a more complex path, where the interplay of rhythms, tempos and moods is genuinely entertaining. All wrapped in the gentle melodies that define this album, though they do end up giving it an overall softness that might feel a touch flabby to ears more used to harsher music. As mentioned, the most notable thing is that it packs in a huge number of parts and changes, none of which ever clash, and that’s a genuinely good piece of work worth acknowledging.
And “Goodbye” was chosen as the closer, and there’s perhaps no better place for this track than the very end of the album. A song with a nostalgic feel and a less complex structure than the previous tracks, whose real merit is how well it fits as a closing statement.
We hope Jolie dedicates more time to this project, since it brings a fresh perspective to the prog scene and could also serve as a reference point for new audiences.
Writer: David Sàez