THE FORM OF THE GOOD

The Form Of The Good is a 2009 release from the band Deluge Grander. While this is classified as Symphonic Prog on our website, don't come in expecting light, easy listening. This is a dense, dense album, that can be intimidating for the first few listens, but becomes very rewarding with patience and concentration.

The music of The Form of the Good is primarily comprised of the standard 4 instruments of prog: guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums. The keyboard leads the grand majority of the compositions, with some cool synth sounds, and excellent Mellotron at every turn. The guitar is sparse, but it is a nice compliment to the keyboards. Is has a harder edge to it, that really sets it apart from the rest of the sounds. The bass is not as prevalent, usually being hidden by the keyboards, but there are a few really interesting moments in the back of songs provided by it. The drums are frantic, but also often pushed to the background. In addition to these, a good amount of classical instruments are used, ranging from multiple woodwinds, to a trombone, and a violin. With the exception of some low chants in the first song, the album is completely instrumental.

The composition. Oh boy, the composition. To say that this music is complex is a grand understatement. The amount of layering going on in these songs is ridiculous, and it's common for nearly all of the instruments listed above to be going at once. This is definitely music that you have to listen to and do nothing else in order to fully appreciate. After giving my full attention to it, I was literally exhausted from trying to keep track of all the instrumentation. But man, how much fun it is to try. The band is clearly experienced at this, as everything fits in place perfectly; nothing clashes with each other, and they always manage to smoothly add another layer or transition to a new part of a song.

There are some interesting things going on with the composition that I've never heard before. The first effect used is the pairing of the classical instruments with a synth, while they play the same melody. This creates a nice contrast between the natural and artificial sounds the two produce. It's subtle, but it's nice, and unique. Secondly, normally in music this layered, one of the instruments emerges with a higher pitch, and becomes the dominant layer, pushing the other instruments into the lower register. However, it's common in this album for 3 or 4 instruments to be playing on the top layer, in the same pitch range. The music then allows the listener to choose which to focus on, or try to comprehend the combination of all. This added even more fun to my listens, trying to find moments like these.

The structure of the album pales in comparison to the structure of the songs. There's a story going on here somewhere; you can tell by the cover and the titles of songs, but with the absence of lyrics and recurring themes, the songs appear separate. You're also not given much breathing room between the chaos, with the least challenging songs being the first and last. The end of the final song does have a similar feel to the introduction, however, giving the album a bookended feel. The more complex songs, and specifically the epic tend to be tremendous fun to listen to at the time, but forgettable once their over. You're bombarded with so much music at once, and with the near absence of repetition, it's hard for a lot of it to stick. None of the faults are particularly major, but they do hold the album back a little.

The Form of the Good is a lot to digest. This isn't for casual prog listeners. This is an album that really takes some patience and dedication. If you're willing to give it that though, there's tons to enjoy about it, and will last you a long time as you uncover all of its secrets.