Oooh, this may be quite a tasty discovery, even though I did get the previous 2019 debut but never gave it a thought . But thankfully this one caught my attention (was it perhaps the attractive album cover or a reviewer colleague’s salivation, who knows for sure?) and it’s a pleasant winner. Talented crew this, tight as an Oktoberfest beer barrel, Sacha Giebel the lead vocalist is also a more than adequate guitarist, aided by the excellent Simon Rainer, Tim Sund can express himself rather brazenly on his ivories, while Francesco Baccaro and Yatziv Caspi form a week-oiled rhythmic engine. Their style sits in the Neo-Prog chair, showing a level of creativity than goes way beyond the lukewarm, or tepid some naysayers view it at times, but truth be said, every subgenre have their own extremes in term of quality.
Nothing more typical of our beloved genre than an instrumental “Overture”, the progressive rock version of foreplay for sex, amuse bouche et hors d’oeuvres for gastronomy or good old-fashioned warmup for athletes. GTD unwraps one hell of a chunky dollop, flexing all the muscles, including hands and fingers (which made me wonder the other day if there are any musical instruments that requires the use of only one hand?).
Both “the Storyteller” and “Talk to Me” are medium-sized tracks (in the 6-to-8-minute range) that provided both glitter and fantasy, a strong sense of detail and buildup as well as adding sounds that seem quite specific to them, instead of sounding like their ‘influences’ , its way more mature than the obvious. For example, on the second track, the mellotron blasts are just as heavy as the twin electric guitars riffs, a most rewarding attribute, to say the least.
The title track is the core of the recording, sitting mightily smack in the middle, an epic 11 minute + excursion that has the audacity to include my all-time favourite instrument, the harpsichord. It eventually moves into a variety of shifts and transitions, keeping the motion constantly pulsating, giving the instrumentalists an opportunity to display their creative talents, such as swirling synthesizer solo that veers straight into an ambient realm, pretty much initiating the heroic story of brave knights slaying giant lizards, an metaphorical cover for human weaknesses at work , the ‘rotten shell’ shoves the arrangement into a whirlwind second section that shows off all the tendencies with predatory belligerence.
“High School Reunion” is a different kettle of fish, very apparent that this is a more accessible track that was made for live concerts , the rockabilly lead guitar solo proof in the pudding as it possesses that rabble-rousing, fist-pumping , feel good quality that makes for great energetic entertainment.
At first, “The Broken Crown” has more orchestrations that a philharmonic hall, before shifting gears into another entertaining rambler, a good but not great finale, which could have been another more symphonic piece to close up the album with a paroxysm of pleasure. I will definitely revisit that “Progressive Worlds” album that is sitting on shelf.
4 battling beasts