N.M.B. (Neal Morse Band) – L.I.F.T. (Inside Out Music) [Simon Black]
There was a time during the most frustrating depths of lockdown when Neal Morse seemed to be at his most prolific. Let’s be honest, the guy is an absolute cornerstone of all things prog, and with his various collaborators and frankly formidable array of projects seemed during that period to be cranking out something new every month.
I suspect that this was more to do with the inability to cut anything new face-to-face back then meant that projects that never saw the light of day, plus a plethora of live recording got to see the light of day in a positive bow wave of releases.
The master of all things progressive varies his style enormously, but for me the releases branded under the Neal Morse Band (or N.M.B. as it has morphed into this time around) always ticked my boxes more than many projects have because fundamentally it was often a bit heavier than Transatlantic, Morse, Portnoy and George, Flying Colours and most definitely Worship, despite the fact that musicians were shared across so many of the projects.
Absolutely a cross-project cornerstone of the last few decades has been former and once more current Dream Theater maestro Mike Portnoy, and the NMB output often felt closest to that of that most successful of Prog Metal acts in style, whilst clearly being Mr Morse at its heart.
This album may mark something of a change then…
Portnoy’s much publicised return to Dream Theater means a huge chunk of his availability just disappeared well into the medium term, because DT are both globally successful, and fairly prolific as well in terms of recorded outlay, so the reality is that we are unlikely to see Portnoy sitting behind Morse live or in the studio as frequently.
It’s also been a while since the NMB released a studio album, and clearly Portnoy’s shift back to DT has precipitated one (I am reluctant to say) final studio opus from this fluid and frankly spot on line-up. Time was a pressure here, with a limited window of Portnoy’s availability for direct collaboration compressing writing and recording somewhat, yet as is so often the case that pressure has resulted in one of the most dynamic and fresh sounding releases of the NMB range.
OK, there’s a bit of after the fact polishing going on here, with all the members of the band able to come back and tweak the core tracks cut in the studio from their home studios, but that hasn’t taken away the energy and dynamism of L.I.F.T. A challenge often laid against Morse and his projects is their repetitive nature, but this one feels both of that stable and clearly moving the dial into fresher territory.
There is a feeling here that they want to cram as much as they can into the record stylistically too, and there are many moments that feel like a nod to heights of the past, but it’s also thematically contiguous, with a lot of lyrically influence from Morse’s religious inclinations, but let’s face it they’re as constant in his recorded output since he left Spock’s Beard as Portnoy.
Unlike many of previous releases though, the energy here makes the album fly by despite it’s run time. When you have an hour and ten minutes of music, sounding concise is something of a challenge here, but the band pull it off because they have distilled all their writing experience together into one polished whole. Not so much a Best of Compilation, as a stylistic compendium of what they all do best, this is one of the freshest slabs of Prog to hit my platter in some considerable time. 9/10
Fangus – Emerald Dream (From The Urn Records) [Rich Piva]
I first heard of the band Fangus when interviewing Sons Of Arrakis for The Rich & Turbo Heavy Half Hour while discussing the Montreal scene and some cool bands that we may not have been familiar with that we really should be.
I immediately went and grabbed the EP and was blown away by the frantic 70s proto metal vibe, and, of course, the organ. That EP, Meet The Reaper, was so cool and had an aura of mystery to the mad men behind this organ driven goodness. Thankfully, out of the shadows they come with their debut full length, Emerald Dream, and boy does it rip the place up and take that raw, early EP sounds to another level on these eight tracks.
The opener, Howling Hammer kicks it off with a cool, heavy 70s riff that Leslie West would be proud of, the drums kick in and sound great, and then the organ. Oh, the organ. A man named Chub plays all the keys on the record and I bow to his greatness. What an amazing opener and just a frantic, LSD fuelled proto trip that will leave you wanting more and more, which is what you get as Pyre Of Love keeps this amazing energy and vibe going.
The organ here is next level, which I have now said for two weeks in a row, with the Gjendferd record from last week being another example. While Gjenferd is firmly rooted in the 70s too, they lean a bit more proggy and classic rock, while Fangus goes full Sir Lord Baltimore without ever letting their foot off the gas.
Layers of keys kick off Psychoïd Telepath, and while the pace slows just a bit, the proto psych vibe does not. This track could absolutely be in a classic B horror movie and steal the show. An organ solo kicks off Quest For Fire before the riff kicks in and the guitar and organ meld to form one epic monster ready to tear up 1976 Montreal. The title track opens up with an operatic organ solo that slowly builds up to that perfect pairing of instruments that is like a freight train off the tracks heading right towards your city center.
For a second it looks like someone jumped in the engine and took control, until it all goes off the rails again. Fangus has the fast slow/loud quiet thing down pat with the killer heavy psych of Time Gambler. The guitar work on this one is just massive. Shapeshifter sounds like Witchfinder General, with an organ. Enough said. Somehow the band saved the best track for last, as the energy on Stardust Regulator is off the charts, making me try to figure out a way to see these guys live at some point.
Fangus really kills it on their debut full length. Emerald Dream is non stop 70s inspired proto psych heaviness driven by amazing organ and guitar work, great song writing, amazing sound, and next level playing all around. I am not sure how a debut could be much better, given this album has been blasting non stop and am getting really good at air organ. Killer, next level stuff. 10/10
Red Sun Atacama – Summerchild (Mrs Red Sound) [Rich Piva]
Red Sun Atacama are a psych punk band out of Bordeaux, France. Psych punk you say? Yup. Up tempo rippers with some serious mind bending guitar work, cool tempo changes, and a frantic energy that landed their last album, Darwin, in my top 20 of 2022. The band is back with their new record, Summerchild, with very similar (killer) results.
The band self describes as “desert punk” and I can certainly get behind that, especially with the stoner gallop of a track like Conveyor, with its big chunky riff and punk rock tendencies all encompassed by a nice thick layer of fuzz. The opener, Passenger, is a straight up punky QOTSA style ripper that sets the stage nicely for the rest of the record. The snotty vocals add to the desert punk thing they have going on too, which all works great.
It’s not all breakneck punk speed, as RSA can plant their feet firmly in the (French?) desert with a trippy slow burn too, like on Weightless. At least that is what you think you are getting until you remember these guys love big riffs too. I dig the guitar work on the back half of this one. Great stuff. Speaking of rippers, Commotions lives up to its name with the drum work standing out on this psych punk explosion. That is until it slams on the breaks and goes all quiet…until the (of course) big riff breaks through the wall and the reverb drenched vocals grab you.
Graze The Sun may be my favourite on the record, with some more killer guitar work, a 90s feel, but also this Hanoi Rocks with lots of Fuzz thing that I hear. Not sure anyone else will but I hear it, and it is wonderful. The riffs are endless on this one too. This one shows how RSA have mastered the start fast, slow down, end fast formula. The title track is ear worm material, showing off the band’s pop sensibilities while still channelling Rated R/SFTD era QOTSA.
Thankfully Ragdoll is not an Aerosmith cover, but it is eight minutes of what RSA does best; snotty desert punk with a side of psych, with the psych being layered on heavy over this one. The closer, the very chill and perfectly titled Sundown, is just the thing needed to come down from the wild ride that is Summerchild.
A worthy follow up to their last killer record, Summerchild will show the Red Sun Atacama are the real deal and in no way any sort of side project or one off thing. Eight driving songs touching on a bunch of genres but never veering off the path of awesome. 9/10
White Skies – Shouting At The Hurricane (Conquest Music) [Simon Black]
I first came across White Skies opening up for Ten at a show in Cardiff about 18 months ago and was hugely impressed by them at the time. It was a tough gig to open, as despite the calibre of the headliner the promoters at The Globe elected to do zero publicity whatsoever, so the room was rather depressingly sparse for them (never mind for the headliners), yet they did an admirable job of delivering their well-crafted Melodic / AOR Rock to an audience that had never heard of them.
It was good enough for me to splash out on their debut CD Black Tide that night, and the album did not disappoint either, so spotting this sophomore in the slush pile at Musipedia Towers (well, more of a two up, two down to be honest) was a no-brainer for me.
Shouting At The Hurricane does not buck the trend. It’s a consistently strong album, which, as the title implies has a slightly rougher edge to it than its predecessor. Not in terms or recording or quality, but it’s definitely more a Hard Rock affair than their debut, although there’s plenty of steady synth-laden hooks that the fan base isn’t going to see too much of a step beyond their debut.
To be fair, the band may be new, but the members are all old school pros. White goes all the way back to one of the late 80’s incarnations of Samson, and many things since, but the rest of the band have been around the block some as well. That’s always a help when everyone has a depth of writing and recording experience and often means they tend to cut straight to the point with little padding when the chemistry is right. Which it certainly is here.
When an album kicks things off with the two banging singles, then I usually start to worry that there is a risk of shooting the load a little early, but in this instance, I need not have lost anymore hair than time and genetics have already taken so cruelly from me. These two are obvious singles to be fair, particularly
88 Crash, which has all the anthemic hallmarks of a track that they will be closing their live sets with forever, but quality and consistency are in harmony here. This album is positively dripping with catchy anthems however…
…And so well delivered to boot. The arrangements are crisp, precise and well-tailored, but there’s enough freshness in the performance that this feels neither derivative, unoriginal nor stale. Whichever way you look at it, this is a sub-genre mostly played by and listened to by folks who have circled around the sun for a fair few turns to the power of ten, but when something rocks up feeling that it just fell out of this decade as well as any since the mid-80’s so effortlessly.
Mainly through that reliable formula or good musicians, who know what they are doing and who know how to trim the fat from their work what you end up with is this: a strong, well-crafted and refreshing record for a band who are rapidly becoming a firm favourite. 10/10
