April 7th is World Health Day, MRR is releasing “The Rain” on this day specifically as this is a health issue which effects society in its entirety; and on a personal note it touches so many of our lives. This album speaks to us in a human way, on a topic which we hide and so many find shame in. “The Rain” is about the late stages of dementia seen through the eyes of a person who is experiencing the suffering of this disease first-hand. Alzheimer’s is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory, cognitive thought and eventually the ability to carry out the simplest of daily tasks.
In 10 short years it seems that Germany’s Dante have established a pedigree in progressive metal and rock. Dante have certainly never been bit by the infamous second album sophomoric jinx and have something very few bands that have been around 10 years have, that being a steady consistency. Their fan base continues with every album and tour. Where some bands seem to struggle to build on past or recent success, Dante continue to build upon their recent efforts and never develop a pretentious attitude about them.
Dante are one of those bands to seem to incorporate elements of progressive rock’s past with present elements of progressive metal’s present. If there were a scale to measure the elements they incorporate the balance would be about even. Many of their current industry peers can not are not as balanced.
While preparing to write this review for Dante’s When We Were Beautiful , I also went back and got the three previous albums before this, 2008’s The Inner Circle, 2010’s Saturate and 2013’sNovember Red. Throughout my listening and research of their entire library it seems Dante have only matured and gotten stronger with every album. When We Were Beautiful is definitely and more matured progression that will certainly continue to cement the band’s legacy in progressive rock and metal. That all being said lets explore some highlights of Dante When We Were Beautiful.
Rearrangement Of The Gods opens up with a great thunderous drum beat. Soon it rips into a progressive rhythmic frenzy between the bass, drums and rhythm guitar. At around the 1:20 mark the keyboards come in with a neo progressive sound moving the track along with solid continuity. At the 1:36 mark the track has a really cool spoken word narrative that gives the track a conceptual element before the main lead vocal comes in to pick up the story in a melodic sense.
Ambitious is a straight away heavily rhythm oriented track with various old school hammond organ and synth atmospheres. Alexander Göhs – Vocals , comes in with a old school almost 1970’s stoner vocal dialect. The instrumental portion of Ambitious gives the listener several breaks as the vocal plays off the very core rhythm section of bass and drums inside the track itself. The core rhythm section as a span of various time progressions and signatures. At the 4:41 mark there is several rhythmic signatures playing off one another between the bass, rhythm guitar and drums. While the rhythm section remains bottom heavy the keyboards give it a floating atmospheric passage. Even including a nice old school piano.
Beautiful Again begins as a rhythmic distorted frenzy. Within that frenzy it stays on a steady time signature laden progression. It has the appearance of progressive proto-thrash. The vocal harmonies give the track a fullness and warmth within the progressive frenzy. The listener can easily comprehend the track once the vocal and harmony comes into play. Markus Maichel – Keyboards/Piano really meshes the track together with his various time changes. It is wonderfully executed controlled chaos coming off the keys on this track.
Until The Last Night Breaks In has a somber yet mellow intro that quickly roars into a furious progressive frenzy. A progressive frenzy that includes old school hammond organ with modern synth atmospheres. After the first 3:00 of well crafted signatures the warm lead vocal comes in and carries the track. The lead vocal is accompanied by several echo vocals that encompass the listener’s senses. At the 6:00 mark the track takes you on a roller coaster of various up tempo riffs and time signatures. Some signatures with serious solo work by Julian Kellner – Guitars. Around the 8:00 mark some very well written and engineered drum/rhythm section comes into the track.
Let Me Down begins with some very synth new school based keyboarding and drumming that builds to a thunderous rhythm section. This track takes on a more raw and nasty approach with the rhythm guitar at the center. It is soon followed by some old school hammond organ. Even more so than a newer glossy keyboard. Where there is a crunchy distortion rhythm there seems to be a great lead keyboard/synth/hammond to compliment the passage and progression.
Sad Today begins in a very dark somber mood. It contains ballad like piano work. The warm vocals are a perfect compliment to the bass and piano. Lyrically it is about heartache.
Finally is the appropriate last track on the album. It opens up with a 3:00 passage of various twists and turns among the time signature. The first 3:00 are very busy as to not allow for the listener to get bored towards the build up of the vocals at the 3:05 mark. About the 5:05 mark their are some wonderfully engineered spoken word passages that help with the narrative of the story. There are some wonderfully vocal harmonies and vocal echo melodies well crafted throughout the entire track. At the 7:45 mark the keyboard works double duty as another guitar in the band and a keyboard in the track. This is compounded wisely with a killer bass/drum section taking trade off turns.
After going back and listening to every Dante album before When We Were Beautiful, I have come to the conclusion that this band does not know how to put out a bad album. This is a band that certainly continues to build and progress upon excellence. They are a band where you can also start anywhere in the library and become a fan off any album they have released. I am giving this a 5/5 for uncompromising songwriting, production and presentation.
In the wake of his Parents’ Death, the Axe Man, who had brought you the acclaimed album of 2010, ” FLY INTO THE LAND OF Z, ” had taken Music Therapy into a DIFFERENT LEVEL, therefore, GREG BACHMAN had given his Parents the GREATEST HONOR OF ALL.
HERE’S HOW HE DESCRIBED HIS TOUCHING, UPCOMING PROJECT:
“ A niche genre, the music isGUITAR ORIENTED INSTRUMENTALS,withORCHESTRATION in aPROGRESSIVE / FUSION STYLE. “
“ Those 5 songs ( As posted onSOUNDCLOUD,) are aTRIBUTEto myLATE PARENTS,who wasMARRIED FOR 59 YEARS,and passed 33 days apart, who were theMOST LOVING COUPLE, I EVER KNOWN….“
Colin Tench started out his music career in 80′s with Odin (of London) alongside John Culley (ex-Cressida, ex-Black Widow) leading to the formation of BunChakeze, they recorded one album; Whose Dream? which would sit unreleased for about twenty five years. Whose Dream? eventually would see the light of day and was self released in 2010, the album received much praise from the press. Since 2010 Tench has been busy working as an active member of bands such as Corvus Stone, Coalition & Transmission Rails along with Andres Guazzelli, Murky Red and Andy John Bradford’s Oceans 5.
The Idea of CTP / Colin Tench Project came about in 2012, the first track he composed was Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Screwed, a seven plus minute epic instrumental. Tench had no idea that he was even working on a solo project, it was just one song, then two and then he realized he needed to do something with these songs he wrote for himself and not the projects he was involved in, thus CTP was born.
Tench is no stranger when it comes to working with international musicians like; Lorelei McBroom (Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones), Joe Vitale (Joe Walsh, Eagles, CSNY), Phil Naro (Talas, Peter Criss) and Sean Filkins (Big Big Train).
For the solo album he has assembled some amazing talent featuring members of: (Karibow, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Buckingham Nicks, Jimmie Van Zant, Springfield Symphony as well as members of Tiger Moth Tales, Murky Red, Unified Past, Coalition, Gandalf’s Project, BunChakeze, Transmission Rails, Progeland, Druckfarben, Backhand and DDrive.
CTP/Colin Tench Project album track listing thus far…
Hair in a G string (unfinished but sweet) part 1 (6.34) Colin Tench: Guitars Steve Gresswell: Piano, Keyboards & Orchestration
Can’t see it any other way: (5.05) Colin Tench: Guitars Phil Naro: Vocals Gary Derrick: Bass Marco Chiappini: Keyboards Victor Tassone: Drums
Hair in a G string (unfinished but sweet) part 2 (4.30) Colin Tench: Guitars Phil Naro: Vocals Steve Gresswell: Keyboards Stef Flaming: Keyboards Oliver Rusing: Drums Petri Lindström: Bass
The Mad Yeti (2.51) Colin Tench: Guitars
The Brazilian (7.26) Colin Tench: Guitars & Piano Gordon Bennett: Orchestra & Shaving Cream
And so, Today (4.08) Pete Jones: Vocals & Clarinet Colin Tench: Guitars & Piano Petri Lindström: Bass
Hair in a G string (unfinished but sweet) part 3 (7.37) Colin Tench: Guitars Steve Gresswell: Keyboards Angelo Hulshout: Fretless Bass
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Screwed: (7:33) Colin Tench: Guitars & Vocals Gary Derrick: Bass Marco Chiappini: Keyboards Victor Tassone: Drums
La Palo Desperado: (5.55) Colin Tench: Guitars
When I’m Dreaming of You: (5.41) Phil Naro: Vocals Colin Tench: Lead Guitar Gary Hodges: Drums Steve Gresswell: Keyboards Kelly Brown: Keyboards Gary Smith: Guitar & Bass Tina Sibley, Kirsten Weingartner, Ned Horner and Aleksis Zarins: String Section Part 4b: (7.58) Colin Tench: Guitars Gordon Bennett: Orchestra, Triangle, things that goes boing Petri Lindström: Bass Angelo Hulshout: Fretless Bass Jay Theodore McGurrin: Drums
The Rain to see a worldwide release on April 7th 2016 in both CD and Digital formats via Melodic Revolution Records and will be available as a pre-sale on March 29th 2016 for a limited time at a special low price.
Gildenlöw’s eleven year career as bass player in the progressive rock band Pain of Salvation set the wheels in motion for his solo career, which took flight with release of his debut album RUST (2013), paving way for The Rain. In addition to vocals, Gildenlöw performs a wide range of instruments and uses carefully selected guest musicians – adding strings, accordion and church organ – to make this album come to life.
The Rain – Track List: 1. After The Rain pt. II 2. Holding On pt. I 3. Seeking The Sun pt. I 4. Seeking The Sun pt. II 5. Worthy 6. Holding On pt. II 7. See it All 8. Peripheral Memory 9. Breathe In, Breathe Out 10. In the Evening 11. It Was Me 12. Drizzle 13. She 14. All For You 15. The Funeral pt. I 16. The Funeral pt. II
Album Line-up: Kristoffer Gildenlöw: Vocals, Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Piano, Keyboards, Bass Guitars, Double Bass, Percussion, Glockenspiel Lars Erik Asp: Drums & Percussion (Gazpacho) Paul Coenradie: Electric Guitar (Valentine, Aniday) Fredrik Hermansson: Piano & Electric Piano (Pain of Salvation) Anne Bakker: Violin, Viola & Vocals (Blaze Bayley) Maaike Peterse: Cello (Kovacs, Ayreon, Kingfisher Sky)
Special Guests: Norman Ebicilio: Vocals on Drizzle Cees Pouw: Accordion Theo Teunisen: Church Organ Popkoor Zuilen: Choir Rienk Speelman: Conductor
Production Notes: Recorded, Mixed and Produced at New Joke Studios (NL) by Kristoffer Gildenlöw except: Drums Lars Erik Asp Recorded at Anywhere Studios (NO), Guitars Paul Coenradie Recorded at Legacy Studio (NL) by Patrick Terwee, Keyboards Fredrik Hermansson Recorded at Livingroom Studios (S) and Additional Cello Recorded at Here’s Johnny Studios (NL). Mastered at Fine Tune Mastering Studio (NL) by Peter van’t Riet; Artwork by BlackLake Design (NL)
About The Rain: The deep tones of how the mind fights against itself resonate throughout this powerful and poignant work by Kristoffer Gildenlöw. A brilliant effort after his highly acclaimed first solo release: Rust (2013); a thematic album which delved into the realities of aging and one’s perspectives on past, future and ultimately reconciliation with life choices. Again, Gildenlöw has chosen a heavy subject for the theme of The Rain; which is a concept album that examines the life of a man in later stages of dementia who struggles with his own reality, perceived through the metaphor of rain and clouds.
The gentleness of the piano passages oppose the angst and turmoil which lie beneath. The gentle pace at which the album progresses is reflective of the destructive force of the disease upon the man, and you find yourself at the tipping point with the track, ‘Breath In, Breath Out’. It is through this lyrically beautiful song that the realization of the end becomes apparent; leaving the listener grasping for the beauty captured in the mind’s eye.
When I interviewed Kristoffer Gildenlöw last year, he told me that his debut album Rust was inspired by a dark period in his life. A period that he needed to come to terms with. His next album, the one I’m listening to for the umpteenth now, would be less dark he expected. To some extend he was right, but The Rain is far from party music. The concept album tells the story of a man fighting his oncoming dementia, giving in only shortly before dying. A theme that is all to common, in a world where we are still dealing with Alzheimer. From that perspective, giving some tracks of the album their first airplay during Rock against Dementia on March 19th of this year was a logical thing to do.
After the sounds of rain, the first violin notes of After the Rain Part II (Part I is on the 200 copies limited edition bonus EP) make clear that this album is full of emotion and melancholy. Kristoffer’s voice carries the melancholy, which is joined by Paul Coenradie’s equally emotional guitar to set the stage for the rest of the album.
On Holding On Pt. I Kristoffers voice is joined by that of violinist Anne Bakker, resulting in a duet full of questions and despair. The effect of the vocals, and the use of vocals as another instrument becomes even stronger on Seeking The Sun Pt. I, where a complete choir (Popkoor Zuilen) joins in with the other two voices to create an intricate and touching layering of melodies. This matches perfectly with the piano and guitar melodies in the instrumental The Sun Pt II.
The short piano (Fredrik Hermansson) and male vocal piece Worthy found me staring out the window into the dark of the night, ‘waking up’ to the slightly faster violin (and cello?) of Holding On Pt II. This leads up to the slow See it All, which starts with dark drums and then a piano to accompany Kristoffer’s low voice, again joined by the choir – putting down the emotions of the dementing man wanting to see it all once more. The cello (Maaike Peters) and violin on Peripheral Memory, accompanied by a low guitar riff and almost haunting drums (by Gazpacho‘s Lars Erik Asp)lead to the soft, slow Breath In, Breath Out. Here, the man gives in, knowing the end is near. The piano and Kristoffer’s voice give me shivers, reminding me of family members who died, no longrer aware of who they themselves and those around them were.
With The Evening, which starts small and ends big, and the acoustic It was me, the album works it’s way into the haunting Drizzle. This song starts with a very low voice (Norman Ebecilio) and the sound of chains and cart wheels and develops into something that is not a blues but certainly has the feel of one. A very dark one that ends in the sound of rain.
The complicated melody of the instrumental second half of She is one of the highlights of the album for me – with a lead role for the alt violin. After this, three short tracks All for You, and The Funeral Pt I and II remain, reflecting the sad ending to a sad story – with the piano and the sound of rain and distant church bells ending the album.
An intricate composition, where lyrics, vocals melodies and instruments work together as an orchestra to convey a story. Production of the album is crystal clear, making all the layers of the music shine through. Highly recommended, but requires attentive listening.
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The Rain is officially released worldwide!
