by Kev Rowland | Jun 3, 2018 | News, Reviews
By Kev Rowland
Back with their fifth studio album, it has been a while since I last heard this German band that morphed out of Sieges Even, as there have been two other albums between this and 2011’s ‘Touchstones’. I would have classified their last album as solid neo-prog, but while I do think that classification is still the best place for this as a whole, there is much more crossover in what they are doing now. This has a lightness and deftness of touch to it, yet at the same time, there is a maturity and feeling of a band knowing exactly what they want to get across to the audience. Bringing in RPWL’s Yogi Lang and Kalle Wallner to undertake the production was a touch of genius, as that act has also been through a great deal of change as they have moved to adulthood, and together they have all combined here to show that there is a prog band that has very much come of age.
The current line-up, consisting of Markus Steffen (guitar), Arno Menses (vocals), Ralf Schwager (bass), Markus Maichel (keyboards) and Dirk Brand (drums), has remained unchanged for quite some time. Markus and Arno starting working together in Sieges Even before moving away, while Ralf (Dreamscape) and Dirk Brand (Axxis, Geoff Downes & John Wetton) also have strong reputations, but it is as this quintet that they are now becoming best known. The vocals soar, the melodies hit while the harmonies and musicianship are all that one would expect and want from a band like this.
The approach is far more song-based than before, and although they can hit hard when they want to (witness the keyboard-led melodic hard rock introduction to “Every Able Hand”), they are also content to lighten it up and let Arno take center stage. This is an incredibly accessible progressive rock album, one that brings the bands of the Nineties right up to date, and also not being afraid to use hints of the Seventies when the need is right, but all wrapped up in commercially acceptable radio-friendly songs that are a delight.
8/10
by Nick | Jun 3, 2018 | Blog, News
Power of Prog is proud to announce that legendary album reviewer and interviewer Kev Rowland has joined our team as a contributor. Kev is one of the most prolific writers on the scene right now his work is published in Acid Dragon, Prog Archives, Metal Music Archives, Jazz Music Archives, Feedback Fanzine among others. We look forward to Kev’s input here at Power of Prog and what he has to say.
Kev Rowland’s Bio
From 1990 – 2006 I ran Feedback fanzine in the UK, writing about bands that were never covered in the mainstream press, many of whom were in the progressive underground. During the period I built close ties with many of the UK groups in particular, including writing the newsletter for Freewill, getting gigs for Credo and writing the introduction to Galahad’s OCMDII compilation. I reviewed literally thousands of cassettes and then CDs from prog bands from throughout the world, and was lucky enough to interview many of them. During this period I also contributed to the French progzine Acid Dragon (which I am still doing, all these years later!), and was also asked to write for Rock ‘n’ Reel and once there was such a thing as the internet, for the Ghostland website.
In 2006 I moved to NZ, and stopped running Feedback (which was then renamed Amplified after I left at my request) having produced over 80 editions with more than 11,000 pages of print and heaven knows how many reviews and interviews.
Although I stopped writing and reviewing when I came over to NZ, I was gradually brought back into the scene (initially kicking and screaming until I accepted my fate) and started contributing to many different sites and magazines. I was heavily involved with the Crossover sub-genre team on Prog Archives, wrote the booklets for the Red Jasper reissues, and generally tried to be as involved in the scene as I had some 20 years previously. However, I stopped this in 2014 to start work on a book containing all of my progressive reviews from Feedback, and finally finished this at the end of 2016, after more than half a million words! (To be published by Gonzo Media hopefully later this year in three volumes, watch this space!)
My aim for 2017 was to review every album I had been sent over the last three years, but even though I managed to knock out more than 600 I still have plenty more to get through! The first five months of 2018 has seen me contribute more than 300 reviews so far, and I am ever so slowly starting to make a dent in my backlog, while also trying to keep up to date with new releases.
So much music, so little time…
Kev
by Kev Rowland | Jun 2, 2018 | News, Reviews
By Kev Rowland
There are times when I get incredibly frustrated, and this is one of them. I was sent this album to review, yet attempting to discover anything out about it is nigh on impossible. The artist’s website hasn’t been properly updated in years, and attempts to contact them directly has met with no response. What I know for certain is the band is led by Doug Rausch (vocals, keyboards), and this is the second release (following on from the debut in 2010). The actual band line-up is completed by Joe Fine (bass), Gary Wehrkamp (guitar) and Chris Ruffini (drums) and I believe that guests include Mark Zonder (Fates Warning), Ryo Okumoto (Spock’s Beard) and guitarist Brendt Allman (Shadow Gallery).
The real reason I am so frustrated is that this is a bloody excellent album, one that I have enjoyed playing a great deal, yet I’m not sure if it is ever going to gain the kudos it deserves. Musically it has a lot in common with City Boy, Queen, and 3rdDegree with plenty of piano-based soft melodic prog rockers which are real songs, that are stacked full of commercial riffs and great vocals. I’ve even found myself singing some of the songs from the album around the house, something that happens incredibly rarely. It doesn’t seem to matter which track I am listening to, as whatever one that is, is definitely my favorite of the moment. This is a truly superb album which will appeal to lovers of all type of melodic music as they switch from bombastic rock to acoustic guitar into something more rocky then let piano take control and drive it all along. This truly is a wonderful album that makes me smile each and every time I play it and isn’t that sometimes all we need? https://rausch.bandcamp.com
8/10
by Kev Rowland | Jun 2, 2018 | Reviews
By Kev Rowland
Between the second and third albums, there were some changes in the Perfect Beings camp, most notably the loss of the rhythm section so that the band was now operating as a trio with additional guest musicians. Ben Levin provides drums on the album which was released at the beginning of 2018, but he has since been replaced by Sein Reinart, and while Johannes Luley picked up the bass duties alongside his guitar, he has now happily put aside the four strings for Jason Lobell. This album also sees a much higher use of woodwind and brass, and since the album, they have been joined by saxophonist/ flutist Brett McDonald. Also, they are no longer releasing their music on their own label but have signed with Inside Out, a major step forward in so many ways.
With so much happening on the personal front, it probably isn’t surprising that the band have also created a sound that is different to what has gone before. It took me a long way to come up with a way of best describing the music, but in the end, I felt that the only real description that worked for me was “Yes, distilled and concentrated”. Yes have always been an important aspect of the music, but here Perfect Beings have taken it to a whole new level, much more so than the original band. Johannes has revealed in playing fretless bass, bringing it even further to the fore than Chris Tristram had previously, while Ryan Hurtgen is as powerful, clean and melodic as he has always been, and Jesse Nason is happy to keep it all together with a modern sounding approach to keyboards.
A big musical difference between this and the other albums is the use of saxophone (particularly) and other brass and woodwind instruments. Max Kaplan (various saxophones and clarinets) has had a huge role to play on the overall sound of this album, and while the guests don’t feature on every song, where they are used they have an immediate impact. Japanese koto and erdu musicians are used alongside cello, tabla, flugelhorn, flute, bass flute, trombone and the Vienna Symphonic Library, all brought into a musical journey, divided into four movements. It is an incredibly deep album, with a breadth of thought that goes on forever, and at times moves into the modern orchestra soundscape area that is normally thought of as being the domain of Karda Estra. Yet, even with all this going on, it is still an incredibly light album in many ways, one that it is easy to get inside the heart of, which allows the listener to be swept along on an amazing musical journey. It is an album that cries out to be heard on headphones when there is enough time to sit and relax back into it.
This is easily their finest album to date, and I fully expect it to be in my Top Ten albums at the end of the year as I can’t expect to come across many more finer than this. 9/10
http://perfectbeingsband.com