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Ain Soph - A Story of Mysterious Forest CD (album) cover

A STORY OF MYSTERIOUS FOREST

Ain Soph

 

Jazz Rock/Fusion

4.01 | 123 ratings

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Bj-1
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Well, ever since hearing the PA sample from this album for the first time Ain Soph was one of my most anticipated bands around. After finally hearing this album, I can surely say it was worth the wait!

Ain Soph is one of the finest Jazz-Rock bands heading from Japan. Their music is very jazzy, but also quite symphonic in the spirit of the classic progressive rock bands such as Genesis, Yes, ELP and the likes. Floating and melodic songs alà Return to Forever or Camel with plenty of tight and great musicianship that is impressive, and luckily not too showy. Although the technical skills of the musicians is heavily dominating the first track, "Crossfire", the other songs are less rapid and focuses more on style and structure, while still being technically impressive. The songs are long, but has plenty to offer and creates different moods within each section of them very well, leaving the listener satisfyed during these 40-minutes without being too overloaded. The production is very good, and I really like the sound of the instruments. The piano and synths are very clear and the drums are clear but still very powerful and effective to the songs.

The title track is a 18-minute journey with strong Pink Floyd elements that harkens back the the Meddle days immediately, complete with a Gilmour-esque guitar solo and same spacey backing music. Although being very good overall, it isn't as good musically as the other pieces on the album unfortunately. If it had been better, this one would have been a 5 star album easily, but this is still a very solid and adventurous album with lot's of potential!

Anyways, based on all this, you should pick this one up if you like melodic Jazz-Rock in the more symphonic prog vein. Fans of Kenso and RTF especially. 4.5/5

Bj-1 | 4/5 |

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