CITY OF THE SUN

Imagine that '21st Century Schizoid Man' is a strip of photographic film. You know film, right? Most progheads should remember film. So imagine this classic song and some of King Crimson's other early heavy stuff is also part of this strip of film and now expose it to 'Nucleus'-era Anekdoten, develop it in The Mars Volta, and wash it with Pinkroom and voila! You have Seven Impale's 'City of the Sun'.

This is an easy album for me to get into because of all the heavy prog passages that crop up in every song. And I actually really love how the saxophone takes the lead throughout most of the album. We get a lot of slower and gentler passages and sections and at times a bit of piano or organ, and then suddenly there will be this total badass heavy prog section with bombastic guitar, saxophone, and one of those prog-a-licious odd rhythm meters. I just soak this stuff up!

I had a hard time placing Stian Okland's voice. It's soft and from the back of the throat like Anekdoten's male vocalist on 'Nucleus' but when it gets a bit gutsy it made me think of the singer on Colosseum's debut album except that that guy can sing from the abdomen. Then the Mars Volta similarity occurred to me, minus the louder screaming aspect. In any case, I think it works.

Only five songs here and one over fourteen minutes long with a total running time of about 46 minutes. That makes this album pretty easy to digest and after the first listen I already had a strongly favourable opinion forming. At this point I can't think of much else to say. It hinges on weird like The Mars Volta and Anekdoten hinge on weird. It also gets heavy like Anekdoten and Pinkroom get heavy. And it has its lighter side as well. Quite simply, if you haven't heard this PA 2014 top 20 pick (number 11) and you like the bands I mentioned above, then I recommend checking this one out. It's not quite five stars for me, more like 4.3. I'm sure there are plenty of members on this site who'd dig it.