Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Pale Acute Moon - Newtopia CD (album) cover

NEWTOPIA

Pale Acute Moon

 

Symphonic Prog

2.93 | 25 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

UMUR
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars "Newtopia" is the debut and sole full-length studio album by Japanese progressive rock act Pale Acute Moon. The album was originally released through Monolith on vinyl limited to 1050 copies. A CD version of the album was released through King/Crime in 1988. "Newtopia" was a re-release in 2000 through Musea Records.

The music on the album sits somewhere between symphonic progressive rock and neo progressive rock. As most of the synths/keyboards used on the album and the drum sound are firmly placed in the eighties, itīs hard not to think mostly of the latter mentioned style. The lead guitar style, which often reminds me of Marillion and IQ also points in a neo progressive direction. The vocals are for the most part female, and Iīm pretty sure, an aquired taste. They are sung in a way that sounds close to not hitting the right notes and I donīt understand a word of what is said, but thereīs something charming about them anyway. They are not that dominant in the soundscape though and itīs probably the synth/keyboard work that most people are predominantly interested in. The tracks feature quite a few interesting ideas and symphonic moments but despite the rather original (read: Odd) vocals, "Newtopia" doesnīt always come off as a terribly original release. It is however pretty well written, well produced for the time (if you can get past the sometimes plastique keyboard sounds), and well performed too.

It should be mentioned that the albumīs tracks are titled chapters and that "Newtopia" should be regarded as a concept piece.

Overall this is certainly a decent release and well worth the price of admission, even for a few plastique sounding keyboards and the occasionally odd vocals, and Iīd say a 3.5 star (70%) rating isnīt all wrong.

UMUR | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this PALE ACUTE MOON review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.