In his first release for InsideOut Music, Mariusz Duda releases a 90 minute double album under his Lunatic Soul guise. The Riverside frontman has been creating music under the Lunatic Soul banner since 2008, playing music that perhaps doesn't fit within the Riverside banner, inspired by Peter Gabriel or Depeche Mode on tracks like the propulsive Monsters, Mike Oldfield on the title track and also Dead Can Dance (The Prophecy/Game Called Life).
Lunatic Soul blends aching introspective folk with art pop and bristling electronics all under the banner of prog rock. Though Duda is not too keen on the progressive rock tag as he says "Lunatic Soul gives me more room for musical originality than Riverside” so he considers it ot be just as important of a document for his musical output as Riverside. So not a aside project and also not prog rock, despite being very progressive in its compositions especially the Mind Obscured, Heart Eclipsed and Self In Distorted Glass.
Mariusz plays all the instruments on these albums, there are selected guests previously but in this eighth record it's very much a solitary journey, The World Under Unsun marking the final chapter in the eight album story entitled The Circle of Life And Death. So it carries a sense of closure but also comes as an epic final movement for the previous Lunatic Soul cycle, with the beautiful The New End a perfect last track.
Where Mariusz Duda goes from here is anyone's guess but I'm sure that you won't want to miss it, until then though embrace this wonderful record with open ears. 9/10
Leprous - An Evening Of Atonement (InsideOut Music)
While touring their 2024 record Melodies Of Atonement, Leprous made a stop at Poppodium 013 in Tilburg, The Netherlands decided that it was here they were going to record their latest live record. It's a venue a lot of bands have done the same at in the past but for Leprous it holds added significance as it was 15 years since they were and opening band on that stage and now as full fledged headliners in their own right it was time to showcase themselves with the biggest and most impressive live show to date.
Obviously this is just the musical part and not the videos section directed by Paul M Green, however you can still hear the crowd respond to everyone single one of these career spanning tracks. 21 in total which opens with Silently Walking Alone which builds an atmosphere before it leads into the propulsive The Price and the twitching electronics of Illuminate. Einar Solberg is on fine vocal form throughout again reinforcing himself as probably the best vocalists out there, he also still plays keys live though he's augmented by Harrison White for the moments when he needs to just be a singer.
Behind him the band are at 110%, guitarists Tor Oddmund Suhrke and Robin Ognedal dance between the fluid, atmospheric melodies and chunky riffs, which are more present on the earlier material such as Forced Entry from Bilateral, Simen Børven bass to plays a big part too on a track such as I Hear The Sirens or the grooving Like A Sunken Ship, where the meat of the song so to speak is him. While drummer extraordinaire Baard Kolstad is just consistently mind blowing.
There's a focus on Melodies Of Atonement of course but it is great for a long term fans like me to hear them play anything earlier than The Congregation, so hearing tracks such as Foe, Forced Entry and Passing did get me quite excited, however as this an 'evening with' scenario, new or passing fans may be thrown by it's two hour run time. However I would definitely that this a perfect examples of the band Leprous are today. Packed with their most recent material but with flashes of the past. An Evening Of Atonement, captures Leprous at the height of their powers as one of the most important prog bands of the 21st Century. 9/10
Psychonaut - World Maker (Pelagic Records)
While writing World Maker, guitarist/vocalist Stefan De Graef welcomed his first child while he and bassist/vocalist Thomas Michiels both had to contend with their father's being given cancer diagnoses. If anything was to alter your viewpoint then these two things happening almost simultaneously would. It means that World Maker took on a different role than just being another album from this Belgian trio, rounded out by drummer Harm Peters, the record became about legacy.
Saying a farewell to the past through the catharsis of music but also celebrating rebirth and the future, how one thing can lead to another De Graef especially wanting to use this album for good, filling it with love, warmth and compassion, perhaps lacking from this post metal bands previous releases, which often dwell in introspection as so many bands such as Cult Of Luna, Tool, Leprous and Riverside do, all bands that carry an influence with Psychonaut.
From the opening strains of the title track which builds on Rhodes organ with a haunting ambience before moving into the percussive heavy grooves of Endless Currents which is the definitive lead single for this record as it keeps the thrilling post-metal drive, with widdly guitars, thick grooves and flashes of growling when needed that has been a part of Psychonaut's style since their multi-time represses 202 debut. This and their 2022 follow up has seen them take to the stage at Alcatraz, Boomtown, Roadburn Redux and taken them on tour with Pelagic labelmates.
As I've said through the band do more with World Maker, introducing guest musician Dutch multi-instrumentalist Anthe Huybrechts (Anthe/Helion Creek) on the crushing You Are The Sky along with the the haunting And Everything Else Is Just The Weather, the title and the guitar tone of a lost track on Pink Floyd's Division Bell, this new warmth feeding through into the gorgeous beginning, and proggy middle of And You Came With Searing Light that reminds me of Leprous, like a lot, this was supposed to be the first song on the record but it sits perfectly on the middle as bod to what has come before.
I'd not heard previous records by Psychonaut before listening to this one but I went back and discovered that they are good, but the personal take of this one makes it better, you can hear that the events around the writing has shifted their approach, from the use of Tabla on Origins, and the tribal percussion on the euphoric Stargazer, to the electronics that pulse swell on All Was Quiet which leads into the closing brilliance of Endless Erosion where strings are added for more musical dexterity.
World Maker is a brilliant album from Psychonaut, redefining who they are as band in one record. I'd say it's pretty much essential. 10/10
Tuesday The Sky - Indoor Enthusiast (Metal Blade Records)
One that's a great title for an album, as I get older I too am an Indoor Enthusiast, which probably explains why I review so many albums, but it seems that Jim Matheos is also an Indoor Enthusiast on his third instrumental solo project Tuesday The Sky.
Known as the guitarist for progressive metal originators Fates Warning, Matheos has a unique playing style that relies on feel and nuance rather than virtuoso shredding and widdling, owing more to Pink Floyd than contemporaries Dream Theater. This probably explains why this album has a song called Does It Need To Be So Loud which was a question asked of Pink Floyd early in their career and this song has the same kind of pulsating build and dynamic guitar prowess of Floyd.
Formed in 2016, there have been two previous albums from this project, each one more influenced by post-rock, electronics and ambient music, the goal is not to play straight forward songs, verse/chorus etc but to create atmospheres that engulf you in emotion, be that drama, sadness or euphoria, Jim himself says that the music begins with an "interesting sound that catches my attention", this makes for music that never sticks to a formulaic route.
Jim plays everything you hear with the exception of drums from Dennis Leeflang, crafting these songs from the ground up for another set of instrumental wonders that showcase another side of his songwriting. 8/10
Lunatic Soul blends aching introspective folk with art pop and bristling electronics all under the banner of prog rock. Though Duda is not too keen on the progressive rock tag as he says "Lunatic Soul gives me more room for musical originality than Riverside” so he considers it ot be just as important of a document for his musical output as Riverside. So not a aside project and also not prog rock, despite being very progressive in its compositions especially the Mind Obscured, Heart Eclipsed and Self In Distorted Glass.
Mariusz plays all the instruments on these albums, there are selected guests previously but in this eighth record it's very much a solitary journey, The World Under Unsun marking the final chapter in the eight album story entitled The Circle of Life And Death. So it carries a sense of closure but also comes as an epic final movement for the previous Lunatic Soul cycle, with the beautiful The New End a perfect last track.
Where Mariusz Duda goes from here is anyone's guess but I'm sure that you won't want to miss it, until then though embrace this wonderful record with open ears. 9/10
Leprous - An Evening Of Atonement (InsideOut Music)
While touring their 2024 record Melodies Of Atonement, Leprous made a stop at Poppodium 013 in Tilburg, The Netherlands decided that it was here they were going to record their latest live record. It's a venue a lot of bands have done the same at in the past but for Leprous it holds added significance as it was 15 years since they were and opening band on that stage and now as full fledged headliners in their own right it was time to showcase themselves with the biggest and most impressive live show to date.
Obviously this is just the musical part and not the videos section directed by Paul M Green, however you can still hear the crowd respond to everyone single one of these career spanning tracks. 21 in total which opens with Silently Walking Alone which builds an atmosphere before it leads into the propulsive The Price and the twitching electronics of Illuminate. Einar Solberg is on fine vocal form throughout again reinforcing himself as probably the best vocalists out there, he also still plays keys live though he's augmented by Harrison White for the moments when he needs to just be a singer.
Behind him the band are at 110%, guitarists Tor Oddmund Suhrke and Robin Ognedal dance between the fluid, atmospheric melodies and chunky riffs, which are more present on the earlier material such as Forced Entry from Bilateral, Simen Børven bass to plays a big part too on a track such as I Hear The Sirens or the grooving Like A Sunken Ship, where the meat of the song so to speak is him. While drummer extraordinaire Baard Kolstad is just consistently mind blowing.
There's a focus on Melodies Of Atonement of course but it is great for a long term fans like me to hear them play anything earlier than The Congregation, so hearing tracks such as Foe, Forced Entry and Passing did get me quite excited, however as this an 'evening with' scenario, new or passing fans may be thrown by it's two hour run time. However I would definitely that this a perfect examples of the band Leprous are today. Packed with their most recent material but with flashes of the past. An Evening Of Atonement, captures Leprous at the height of their powers as one of the most important prog bands of the 21st Century. 9/10
Psychonaut - World Maker (Pelagic Records)
While writing World Maker, guitarist/vocalist Stefan De Graef welcomed his first child while he and bassist/vocalist Thomas Michiels both had to contend with their father's being given cancer diagnoses. If anything was to alter your viewpoint then these two things happening almost simultaneously would. It means that World Maker took on a different role than just being another album from this Belgian trio, rounded out by drummer Harm Peters, the record became about legacy.
Saying a farewell to the past through the catharsis of music but also celebrating rebirth and the future, how one thing can lead to another De Graef especially wanting to use this album for good, filling it with love, warmth and compassion, perhaps lacking from this post metal bands previous releases, which often dwell in introspection as so many bands such as Cult Of Luna, Tool, Leprous and Riverside do, all bands that carry an influence with Psychonaut.
From the opening strains of the title track which builds on Rhodes organ with a haunting ambience before moving into the percussive heavy grooves of Endless Currents which is the definitive lead single for this record as it keeps the thrilling post-metal drive, with widdly guitars, thick grooves and flashes of growling when needed that has been a part of Psychonaut's style since their multi-time represses 202 debut. This and their 2022 follow up has seen them take to the stage at Alcatraz, Boomtown, Roadburn Redux and taken them on tour with Pelagic labelmates.
As I've said through the band do more with World Maker, introducing guest musician Dutch multi-instrumentalist Anthe Huybrechts (Anthe/Helion Creek) on the crushing You Are The Sky along with the the haunting And Everything Else Is Just The Weather, the title and the guitar tone of a lost track on Pink Floyd's Division Bell, this new warmth feeding through into the gorgeous beginning, and proggy middle of And You Came With Searing Light that reminds me of Leprous, like a lot, this was supposed to be the first song on the record but it sits perfectly on the middle as bod to what has come before.
I'd not heard previous records by Psychonaut before listening to this one but I went back and discovered that they are good, but the personal take of this one makes it better, you can hear that the events around the writing has shifted their approach, from the use of Tabla on Origins, and the tribal percussion on the euphoric Stargazer, to the electronics that pulse swell on All Was Quiet which leads into the closing brilliance of Endless Erosion where strings are added for more musical dexterity.
World Maker is a brilliant album from Psychonaut, redefining who they are as band in one record. I'd say it's pretty much essential. 10/10
Tuesday The Sky - Indoor Enthusiast (Metal Blade Records)
One that's a great title for an album, as I get older I too am an Indoor Enthusiast, which probably explains why I review so many albums, but it seems that Jim Matheos is also an Indoor Enthusiast on his third instrumental solo project Tuesday The Sky.
Known as the guitarist for progressive metal originators Fates Warning, Matheos has a unique playing style that relies on feel and nuance rather than virtuoso shredding and widdling, owing more to Pink Floyd than contemporaries Dream Theater. This probably explains why this album has a song called Does It Need To Be So Loud which was a question asked of Pink Floyd early in their career and this song has the same kind of pulsating build and dynamic guitar prowess of Floyd.
Formed in 2016, there have been two previous albums from this project, each one more influenced by post-rock, electronics and ambient music, the goal is not to play straight forward songs, verse/chorus etc but to create atmospheres that engulf you in emotion, be that drama, sadness or euphoria, Jim himself says that the music begins with an "interesting sound that catches my attention", this makes for music that never sticks to a formulaic route.
Jim plays everything you hear with the exception of drums from Dennis Leeflang, crafting these songs from the ground up for another set of instrumental wonders that showcase another side of his songwriting. 8/10
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