STORIES

A very interesting album and my introduction to this band. Maybe this will bring them the wider recognition they truly deserve. These hardworking Swedes spent three years recording STORIES and there is certainly much to celebrate for all their efforts. I see a wonderful attention to detail and also a variety of influences from emotional ballads to complex. soaring GENTLE GIANT harmonies; there's a touch of YES, and even hints of PAT METHENY style lwest coast cool jazz ... and there's also a bit of the operatic, dramatic rocking quality of fellow Swedes A.C.T - without the metal overtones, though! So definitely something for everyone: from moody ballads to longer progressive rockers and more poppish style material - its all here!!

Despite all the variety it hangs together surprisingly well. What binds this album together are the great lyrics (each track is a *story* in its own right) and the very high-quality production . The use of vintage instruments and complex vocal arrangements gives BB a very special sound quite unlike anyone else!

So if you like beautiful melodies, soaring harmonies, top quality production ... c'mom what are you waiting for?

As a bit of background, there are some interesting Prog connections here. Linus Kåse (vocalist, saxophonist & keyboardist) is a key member of FLAGSHIP & NARNIA . There has also been collaborations with ANGLAGARD'S Mattias Olsson . Both Daniel & Linus Kase (yes they're brothers) are classically trained professional musicans and cite influences such as ELP, GENTLE GIANT, YES, GENESIS ... and I would also say JAZZ and CLASSICAL influences are apparent too ...

To be honest I wondering what the heck to expect but I have been VERY pleasantly surprised and I think you will be too. BRIGHTEYE BRISON ... a very special band and definitely one to keep a bright eye on!!

Barely 3 stars in my opinion. This is a very proggy release with lots of tempo shifts and mood changes but I just can't get into it at all. Even Mattias Olson formerly from ANGLAGARD guesting on this one can't rescue it from being very average. I hear their latest album is much better though.

"Stories" is a good opening track with organ, guitar and drums leading the way. Vocals are ok. "Patterns" opens with some great organ as an uptempo melody quickly follows. A change after 1 1/2 minutes to a jazz flavour. A full sound again 3 minutes in. Another change as vocals and piano take over.The tempo picks up before 5 minutes with some nice guitar to follow. "Isolation" has this capella-like intro and some good harmonies later. "The Battle Of Brighteye Brison" is darker sounding with vocals before a minute. Organ 2 minutes in and then it brightens. Spoken words 4 minutes in, and they rock out pretty good late in the song.

"Elanah" is a short intro track for "Late" that features piano melodies throughout. Vocals join them along with drums and bass once we get into "Late" which is a song about relationships. I don't like the song at all. "Life Inside" opens with piano and then reserved vocals. It does get fuller with some mellotron. Not a fan of this one either. "All Love" is my favourite. It has a very epic intro including some sax. Vocals 1 1/2 minutes in with acoustic guitar as it calms down. Drums and mellotron follow. A full sound 3 minutes in as the contrast continues. I like the guitar 5 minutes in. I don't like the xylophone solo 5 1/2 minutes in though. A country flavour follows. Why do I like this one ? "We Wanna Return" is uptempo with lots of organ. I like this one. It has a catchy chorus. "Stories Reprised" is a short but uplifting track.

Tough to even give this one 3 stars.

Depite the use of various instruments and alanog equipment,BRIGHTEYE BRISON are one of those bands,who try to create a more accesible format of progressive rock,easy listened also by non-prog fans.Warning!This has nothing to do with pop or other commercial music forms,this band plays just a more accesible format of prog rock.Formed at the dawn of the millenium,BRIGHTEYE BRISON are lovers of the 70's prog movement and actually four members of this effort are original founders of the band.Only vocalist Per Hallman joined the band a little later,but it must be noticed that he was actually the sound engineer of the band's first release.

''Stories'' is the sophomore effort of the band and it was released in 2006.After several listenings all I can say is that the band's sound is heavily based on vocal harmonies and arrangements and the smooth sound of the constantly alternating instruments.If you're searching for complex or heavy sounding music,try better somewhere else.The influences of the band are obvious and undeniable.The analog keyboards will bring GENESIS to your mind,some classical music influences refer straight to ELP,the vocal harmonies are a strong yet carefully arranged imitation of GENTLE GIANT or even YES.Unfortunately one more thing I noticed is that,as the album unfolds,it gets weakier and weakier.The first fouror five tracks are well- crafted,70's influenced prog rock,while the later ones follow a kind of ballad-like form that gets me a bit tired along the way.Of course these tracks deliver also musicianship of high quality but they have also a slightly AOR-ish flavor.At the end of my listenings,the best way I could describe this album would be a combination of NEAL MORSE's works with ADVENT's Gentle Giant-ish prog rock...

BRIGHTEYE BRISON are a band with potential,noone can deny this IMO.A bit of experience and a more alternating heavy/smooth sound could give them some more credits on prog community.For now,this is a decent second effort by the band,easily recommended for those who search the more mellow side of progressive rock.Fans of YES,SPOCK'S BEARD,NEAL MORSE and GENTLE GIANT should spend also some time giving this album a few spins...Recommended,3 stars...

4,5 stars really !!! I quote BRIGHTEYE BRISON like one of the best and more originals bands which emerges in progressive rock scenery in 21st Century. Best because they are fantastic musicians and originals due to produce a excellent music in terms of arrangements including in their themes, a good dose of "filigrees"... ( as expected by a good prog artist) but, producing a sound very accessible even to non-prog fans ( how already said SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator apps79 in their review#193937, Posted Tuesday, December 16, 2008) and I make the same advice - in spite be "more accessible" isn't a pop music using prog elements !!! The album join together intricate vocals parts like in track 2 "Patterns" with a "nasal-choir" starting 1 min 08 sec in duet with electric guitar melody and again starting at 3 min 19 sec when appear a intermission with acoustic-piano/vocal/electric guitar ( this last seems to me very close to Steve Howe's use of Danelectro Coral Sitar guitar but, I'm not sure). In track 3 "Isolation" in a brief passage the electric guitar shows the same timbre as in the previous track , but the highlights comes by the keyboards variety types ( including hammond-organ, acoustic-piano, synthesizers etc... ) . The track 4 "The Battle of Brighteye Brison" mix symphonic/heavy prog (one of better moments in the album ). The track 6 "Late" is a almost dancing theme with remarkable guitar solo and hypnotic acoustic-piano ( other great moment ). In track 8 "All love" brings a nylon-guitar accompaniment with sax and trumpet parts ! In resume this album is very close to a masterpiece and my rate is 4 stars with a great applause !!!