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Fright Pig - Out Of The Barnyard CD (album) cover

OUT OF THE BARNYARD

Fright Pig

 

Symphonic Prog

3.95 | 264 ratings

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siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator
PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic
5 stars Clearly not all little pigs are created equal. Some went to market, some stayed home and collaborated with other piggies to build ever stronger houses to foil a wolf with an appetite for destruction and then there was one who just wanted to be scary. FRIGHT PIG had had enough of the rural life and decided he was soooo OUT OF THE BARNYARD and went to music school instead. The result is the first all PIG band dishing out one delicious genre of music followed by another. Not much is known of this band since they took the black metal anonymity approach and are rumored to be rolling around the mud somewhere in New York state.

What starts off with the first track "re CREATION" sounding like something Neal Morse would come up with on a Spock's Beard album mixed with other similar bands gives way to an ELP- esque Irish jig on the second "Incident At Pembroke." This album in fact displays everything that could please both classic progsters of the 70s mixed with galloping classic metal of the 80s with lots of ethnic flavors thrown into the pot that really simmer down into a deliciousness unlike any other band i've encountered. For the most part we get a virtuosic ELP approach on the keyboards delivering one furiously complex run after another, we get sizzling traditional metal riffs and solos hot enough to smoke some pork and we get beautifully constructed melodies that range somewhere on the far reaches of neo-prog meets symphonic Mainhorse and Kansas type of stuff.

This album has many different sounds and moods but then again since no credits are listed it very well could be completely different musicians on performing on different tracks since FRIGHT PIG is actually the name of the main PIG while the band of the same name technically is a group of guest musicians. Despite the obscured details regarding the identities of the band, i tend to agree with all those who believe that this is certainly a super group hosting a plethora of highly developed and paid-their-dues veterans of the musical world where they could play around in the mud together and have some fun without their record companies bitchin' at them for getting dirty.

As a lover of virtuosic musicianship this is truly a joy to listen to. The highlight of this album is the excellent "Barque At The Lune" which slightly changes Ozzy Osbourne's "Bark At The Moon" riffs and seriously progifies it by adding all kinds of tasty instrumental touches which includes a very accurate solo mimicking the original's Jake E Lee sizzling solo which abruptly turns into a lightning fast Chopin keyboard run and then the two play together. Hmmm? maybe it could be Jake playing his own solo for all i know!

After hanging out on the farm for a while with this one, i wanted to wait and see if this is one of those flash in the pan type of novelties but i have to say that i personally haven't tired of it, in fact, the whole thing sounds super electrified with enough piggy passion to run a power plant. This is exactly what everyone was hoping for with super groups like Asia, GTR and Transatlantic to sound like but this one actually delivers where those were ok but not up to this level. This album really has everything: depth, delicate beauty, blitzkrieg virtuosity and excellent song structures. Well, don't let this FRIGHT PIG scare you away with its extreme technicality. The music is perfectly balanced with highly stimulating creative motifs guaranteed to addict you with symphonic bombast, Irish jigs, Chopin piano, metal guitar solos, Symphony X operatic style vocals and even an outstanding Spanish classical guitar bit. BTW, it has been revealed that the mastermind of this project is actually a bipedal mammalian specimen residing in the species homo sapiens and his name is Josh Kirsch.

4.5 rounded uP!

siLLy puPPy | 5/5 |

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