AN OTHER LIFE

Akacia claimed themselves as a band that takes its musical roots from the vintage bands like Yes, Genesis with some combination of new sounds from new prog bands (the 90s like The Flowe Kings). They also take a standpoint that their music is different from others. An Other Life is their debut album which contains many footage on guitar solo. The album consumes an approximately one hour of music spread into four tracks.

The opening track which is also the album title track "An Other Life" (16:36) is structured with five movements I) An Other Day II) Dust You Are III) Your Calling IV) I Look Out and V) No Other Life. The bend seems to craft their effort to make this opening track as good as possible using many solo works of guitar and keyboard. The guitar sound to dominate the whole track. There are many changes of mode and tempo where the transitions do not seem to sound smooth to my ears. I think they benchmarked their musical structure with what Spock's Beard did with the first three albums.

"Mary" (6:41) takes its music form in the vein of blues rock like what Jimi Hendrix did. The music is quite good and entertaining. If you like classic rock that dated back in the 70s, this song suits your need as you can hear the sound of Hammond in its background. "Hold Me" (11:02) is truly an excellent composition with vintage intro part combining organ and guitar work. The music turns into blues rock in slow tempo exploring guitar and later keyboard work. Vocal line only enter in the middle of the track after relatively long instrumental piece. No doubt if you like 70s music, this is definitely yours. It's really excellent.

The concluding track is an epic "Journal" (22:41) that comprises seven movements: I) The High Call of God II) Dance of Days III) The Visceral Melee IV) Weight of Glory V) The Beatific Vision VI) Mystery VII) Sands VIII) Insufficient Gratitude. Even though its basic composition is something like modern prog music however the nuances of the music still remind me to the vintage rock music. It's probably determined by the singing style, guitar work and organ sound despite the fact the blues style it has.

Overall, I can say that this is an excellent album even though the opening track sounds to me not a natural composition but the other three tracks a re excellent. You may like opening track as well as it's really prog to the bone. But it's not for me. Keep on proggin' ...!!!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW