PUSH & PROFIT

Discipline's debut album sees them straddling the borderline between the most complex forms of neo-prog and a dark corner of symphonic prog. The songs here combine a range of influences - I can hear the more gothy and sinister passages of IQ, some of the whimsy of Gentle Giant, the theatricality of Genesis and the brooding intensity of King Crimson and Van der Graaf Generator in the mix. Whilst such a wide range of influences could cause lesser bands to flounder, the group attain a level of cohesiveness in their compositions which shows a great deal of discipline on their part - so they're definitely living up to their name!

Whilst the album features no songs extending beyond 10 minutes, this too is a matter of restraint on the part of the band - none of the songs outstay their welcome, but at the same time each is given sufficient space for its ideas to flourish. All the players involved give their all, but props have to be given to multi-instrumentalist frontman Matthew Parmenter, whose stentorian, gothic delivery as the band's "prog mime" singer combines the best of Peter Hammill's ominous declarations and Peter Gabriel's characterful poetry and theatrical mastery of character.

The centrepiece of the album is probably The Nursery Year, a piece which is extremely powerful but whose subject matter - child-murder with strong implications of sexual abuse - is so extreme that some listeners might not be able to stomach it. It's clearly a song which Parmenter himself has strong feelings about, and though sung from the point of view of the perpetrator it is carefully constructed to be condemnatory of said individual through the clearly demented elucidation of their thoughts, but at the same time I'm sure there are listeners who for whatever reason just don't want to be reminded of such things in their prog listening. Still, aside from that caveat I'd heartily recommend Push and Profit to symphonic prog and neo-prog listeners alike.