MIDNIGHT MUSHRUMPS

I was not too fond of Gryphon's first album. I thought it was dull and boring. However I definitely saw they had room to grow. Like mushrooms from the spores, they sure as hell did in a surprisingly good fashion. With this album I feel like they created a sort of middle ground with their medieval folk music and progressive rock, to create this very classy sort of music with very interesting introspectives.

The first track here is their 18+ minute suite, Midnight Mushrumps. This track is very well done. Instead of most Prog suites where they constantly build and build into the next part with big crescendos and vocal ranges, they instead go for a more textural and scenic sound. Already when I heard this song, I knew they improved massively from their sound on Gryphon, and you can tell their creativity has reached an explosion of sound. However I definitely can say it can get a tad boring due to it not trying to be ginormous like tracks like A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers or Tarkus.

The next track is The Ploughboy's Dream is much like a lot of tracks on Gryphon, however it feels like the best elements on that album is now fully realized with this song, and it makes for a nice folk track to listen to. It's definitely not the best song on the album, but I'd wouldn't mind hearing this song on a playlist.

The next track after that, The Last Flash of Gaberdine Taylor, is much like the former, however it's instrumental, but it fits the same niche the previous 2 tracks had, being a nice folk song that I wouldn't mind to hear.

The next track, Gulland Rock, is sadly a very weak track. It's very boring and a bit too quiet. Obviously their sound isn't meant to be loud and bombastic, but even then I feel a bit skewed on this track in terms of the rest of the album's sake. It feels a bit too long, and a bit too dull in a lot of unnecessary areas. Honestly this song is very skippable.

After that sludge, we got my favorite song off this album, Dubbel Dutch. It's just very joyful and playful, but it brings way too more calm and scenic sounds. It's super nice to hear the improvement from their last album to this album with this song alone. It's very much full of great creativity and beauty that cannot be dismissed.

Well, after that, where can the band go from here? Well in a weird territory. This is when I feel like they fully went Prog. This track has the same scenic folk sound, but has a ton of weird sounds and instrumentation, giving this very odd medieval folk tale that kinda sounds a bit creepy. I definitely like it a lot, though they clearly have some elbow grease to work up in terms of truly becoming progressive rock.

So this is a major improvement from their last album. Definitely isn't the best due to the sound getting a bit boring here and there still, but I won't deny this album doesn't have a lot more to enjoy than something you'd might hear from their last. Definitely one of their better works already.