A TAPESTRY OF AFTERTHOUGHTS

A rather new band playing a fantastic kinda vintage prog with lots of the good ol' analog keyboards like mellotron and so on. But one moment don't stop reading because you think this is just another one of this Neoprog type Genesis-clone bands. Definitively NOT, I even would not call CHAOS CODE a derivative band at all, although there are obvious influences of the 70's era of course. Apart of the mentioned one, CRIMSON and VDGG come to one's mind, as well mainly due to the rather dark mood a little bit similarity with newer Scandinavian ones like ANEKDOTEN and SINKADUS.

The first song alone is already worth the money for this album, it's starting rather quietly using soft keyboards and slow percussion, then tempo is raised to a more vivid section with a guitar solo and thereafter a vocal part with acoustic guitar is leading to a part with sound from the stock exchange accompanied by a type of funeral music. Nice combination! Capitalism as the grave for human civilization?? After this there is a soft keyboard theme leading into a more guitar-driven part. I won't go through all the songs in detail, but you can believe me, the rest of the album is of the same quality. Finest Prog in 70's style, well balanced between soft lyrical and heavy rocking parts. Musicianship is excellent with great guitar riffing, nice flute, piano or keyboards and fantastic sax playing. Guitarist Cliff Phelps has got quite a good voice, rather unique and it might appear a bit unusual in the beginning. Due to the poor production vocals are sounding at times a bit flat and too much in the background but this is fitting in some way quite well to the rather depressing mood. Taking into account that it's been produced on their own, it has still a rather good sound. Imagine what could have come out of this brilliant album with a professional production.

Anyway if original good "handmade" progressive rock combined with excellent musicianship is for you more important than an impressing synthetic sound done with technical perfection then you should definitively check out this band. It's a real hidden gem! 4 well deserved stars for it!