RUDE POLITICS

Castanarc's second album finds their sound evolving significantly over their debut. The major change is in the use of keyboards and synthesisers on the part of David Powell and Steve Beighton, which are often much more in tune with the sounds and textures of synthpop than classic prog, allowing Rick Burns' atmospheric guitar work and the occasional keyboard flourish to keep the neo-prog side of the band's sound going. The end result is an intriguing hybrid sound - soft, calming, even at points romantic - which suggests the sort of combination of prog chops and cutting-edge sounds which would pay off in spades for Porcupine Tree a few short years later. Not for neo-prog purists, but a very interesting album nonetheless.

2.5 stars. CASTANARC are a Neo Prog band out of the UK and they released three studio albums in the 80's then one in '98 before going doormat then returning with a compilation album in 2020 before a return with a new studio album in 2021. I have their first two and prefer the debut to this one. Mine has a different cover art and they also changed the track order on the re-issue and Discogs calls this release a cdr.

You could say this is more mainstream than the debut but the biggest disappointment is the 80's drum machine they use. They also program bass patterns along with drum patterns here and drums sound awful, your a better music fan than me if you can stomach this. Vocals are okay and so is the music otherwise but it's like there's an elephant in the room with the beats. This is more of an Art rock/pop release I'd say than a Neo Prog record like the debut and the debut had a real drummer!.

Very much a disappointment when I was hoping for an improvement over the debut and instead they went in a different direction. A couple of guest guitarists were added as well on here.