This album is a sonic Frankenstein’s monster. Little interludes, specifically designed to ease us into a different kind of track or twists in the music that are fully fleshed out, they all serve the purpose of creating an immersive experience you can feel connected to and be invested in. One of the most important points of the record is its cohesion, though. Only the little guitar solo paired with the improvisation of the bass filtered though chorus and flanger reminds us of the extravagant tone the record possesses overall. “Assr”, another fun track, dives into almost soul territory with its empathetic vocals and the mellow motif held down by the flute. Brass stabs in between the pauses of the odd metered guitar groove, the little fusion bass intro that never sees repetition – this all works towards the goal of keeping in constant movement. There is so much going on in the tracks, many things you don’t immediately notice that makes them feel alive and autonomous. Tracks like “Venting Etiquette” build layers upon layers to create one giant, but not at all overwhelming wall of sound. Taking elements or orchestral music, folk, indie prog rock, and fusion, the band tinges all their songs with a lovable, yet palpable eccentricity.
In the fantastical world of prog rock, a record is seldom as fantastical as Gift Or A Weapon by The Grand Silent System. Symphony X are fast, colorful, and never turn down for anything, yet they also come across as authentic and believe in what they do. What is also astounding is the sheer endurance the band members on display throughout the record, being completely euphoric for a 24 minute-long track. This album is cheesy, yes, but it is the most high grade cheese I know of, like the cheese of the Bretagne of the music world. It’s obvious that a good synthesizer can’t be missing, so of course the band creates solos that go hand in hand with the keyboards, essentially creating melodic twins. The intro track already gives you a good picture of what the album is like, with two solos before half the song is finished, operatic and soaring vocals, and the most in-your-face riffs from the most in your face distorted amps you can imagine. But how does a simple record accomplish such a feat? Through massive riffs, three solos before the intro of a song is over, and the most over the top vocal performance there is. It is able to motivate everybody upon hearing the treble-heavy guitars. The Odyssey by Symphony X is not only a piece of music it is a piece of unfiltered, powerful energy.
Lateralus make this list for the superior pacing that channels their writing and musicianship in ways that make the listeners’ expectations part of their art. “Parabol”, “Parabola,” “Ticks & Leaches,” the title track, and yes, “Schism” too, all have this characteristic: lengthy passages of tension that get the oh-so-satisfying punctuation at the end, not always by the guitars, but sometimes with a completely different riff in a completely different time signature. Tool keep things this way for all of Lateralus. It’s like watching Miles Davis: one waits and waits and waits for him to play anything, until that one note is heard, the one that changes everything and feels oh so satisfying. The guitars only kick in at the perfect moment. Lateralus opens with “The Grudge” and its frantic, aggressive bass line by Justin Chancellor, before Maynard offsets it with his usual rapid-babbling-I-sound-like-I’m-about-to-die singing. Well, one of those songs happens to be “Schism” and while Lateralus has it, anyone buying the album might be shocked to learn that it has a lot more going for it than one song for which Tool made one of their notorious claymation. You might have heard of Tool as a band that everybody claims to like, even though this proverbial ‘everybody’ only seems to be able to name two or three songs.
0 kommentar(er)
