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The Black Noodle Project - And Life Goes On CD (album) cover

AND LIFE GOES ON

The Black Noodle Project

Psychedelic/Space Rock


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Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars 3.5 stars.The main man behind the BLACK NOODLE PROJECT is Jeremie Grima, he is the vocalist, guitarist, and he also writes the lyrics. He thanks all the story tellers of the world in the liner notes and mentions several including Tim Burton and Alfred Hitchcock. I would describe the overall sound on this record as melancholic and spacey bringing to mind PINK FLOYD, TIMOTHY PURE and ANATHEMA. The album is about the feelings and pain of a person who has gone through a break up with their partner.

"Time Has Passed" opens with spacey synths, light drums and piano. The guitar comes in as the sound increases. The vocals are slightly accented, and the sound is great. I think this is the best song on the album. "Do It Alone" features strumming guitar,piano and vocals. There is a long sax solo with some fine drumming. "Where Everything Is Dark" is another highlight opening with waves of synths, but it changes quickly to an upbeat song with drums and piano leading the way. Some distorted guitar as well and some good throbbing bass. "Face The Truth" has some delicate piano and fragile vocals.There is some scorching guitar as well as drums late in the song. "Drops In The Ocean" features more strumming guitar with reserved vocals and spacey synths.There is a tasteful guitar solo 3 minutes in and it comes back a minute later a lot more agressive. "Interlude" opens with a baby crying and the sound of a music box being wound up and eventually playing, as the baby gets quiet. What follows is a beautiful guitar solo and a pleasant piano melody. Nice song.

"Where Are U?"opens with more strumming guitar and vocals. Cello comes and goes. Piano later in the song. "Somewhere Between Here And There" has such a good full sound with synths,guitar and drums. "Lost (I miss you)" features more cello and it sounds like a heart beating to end the song. "Disappeared" opens with a catchy 90 second intro that sounds fantastic. Good contrast between the intro like melody that comes and goes and the sad vocals with synths. Great song.The final tune "She Prefers Her Dreams" is the longest and it doesn't disappoint. It's a mid paced song that features a guitar solo early and the drums are prominant 5 minutes in, as the guitar plays.The best part of the whole record might be the ending of this song that just seems to go on and on.

Overall I like it a lot. And if your into PINK FLOYD you'd be better to check out their country-mates NEGATIVE ZONE who are even more FLOYD-like.

Report this review (#116614)
Posted Wednesday, March 28, 2007 | Review Permalink
Chris H
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars I think this was the album that got me started with looking into modern progressive rock bands. I'm not positive about that fact, but when I look back on this album now I wouldn't doubt it one bit. Just a little bit of history on how I ended up discovering a French band with no previous albums to start my modern progressive rock journey, The Black Noodle Project was formed in the French capital and media-hub of Paris, where any album can explode onto the market quickly. The rest is history, and here I sit writing about it.

One rumor that I would like to end right now is the rumor that this band is a Pink Floyd wanna-be. Sure their major influence is Pink Floyd, but the above statement is completely not true, my friends. I suppose they could be the same in the sense the Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and Jeremie Grima both write their songs with a raw passion that can only be surfaced through musical expression, but the music can obviously tell the difference between the two bands. Black Noodle Project plays every note with an unbridled emotion and sings every word with a sense of passion that Pink Floyd sometimes managed to grow cold on over the years.

Now onto the music, shall we? The concept of the album, which I just learned after listens, is how to let go of a broken relationship. Even though their are a few heavier passages, the album is mainly layered with spacey textures to give the feeling of someone's deepest reaches of depression. I suppose the soaring lead guitar and mellow piano textures are responsible, although the saxophone on "Do It Alone" is an amazing touch. The first thing that broke the Pink Floyd wanna-be connection in my mind was the heavy percussions mixed with subtle keyboards, while Pink Floyd tends to go vice-versa.

"Time Has Passed" opens the album with some wind blowing and clocks chiming, and then a tribal drum beat and subtle acoustic guitar set the tone for would will be the style of music throughout the whole album. Once the song starts to come to life, that soaring lead guitar that I was talking about rips into the atmosphere and drenches the remaining sounds with some beautiful riffs. The vocals are slightly accented,, and that just adds to the romanticism that Grima was trying to achieve on this album. "Do It Alone" starts off with the sounds of rain pouring and thunder in the distance, but the effects give way to some a cappella vocals before the piano tones flood the speakers. Like I said before, the saxophone is an amazing touch, and this is the only song on the album where it can be heard. Definitely something to check out, meaning the saxophone solo with tribal drum beats.

The next track is their heaviest song by far. "Where Everything Is Dark" starts out very slowly, and builds up with some very suspenseful atmospheres created by the echoing vocals and subtle riffs, but the explodes into a machine of guitar fueled aggression, however the piano manages to keep the song in touch with the melancholy mood of the album. Once again, the vocals are a winner for me. The accented Francophone English compliments the mood of the music so well. This where the heavy percussion comes into play on the album as well, it provides the backbone for some almost techno-sounding lead guitar solos. Their next song, "Face The Truth", takes all of the edge right out of the previous song and replaces it with subtle beauty. A reviewer on another website had compared the beginning to Eric Carmen's "All By Myself", and I do not disagree with her, although unlike "All By Myself", "Face The Truth" never hits a musical peak where all of the instruments click together. Not that that is a bad thing, however. This truly is a perfect ballad.

"Drops In The Ocean" is another mellow, ballad-esque song, with a few guitar solos here and there, one soft and one aggressive. This song can almost be compared to a 20-minute epic in the sense that instruments each enter the song individually after a certain period of time. For example, the song begins with some really spacey keyboards that create the atmosphere, and the vocals come in alongside the strumming guitar. The tension starts to mount, and then the sound explodes and the bass and drums get heavier and heavier. The instrumental "Interlude" starts off with the sound of a baby crying and then some very classy piano playing takes over, while the guitar stays in the background for a while. The piano starts to overtake the guitar with around a minute left, and creates a magnificent solo that blends the guitar's raw power with the piano's cultured and cured tones. The ending of "Interlude" leads into "Where Are U?", which opens up with some more strumming guitar and vocals, but the song is different because of the added use of the cello in the chorus. The song's title may suggest that it is a very depressing, yet musically amazing song. With the accented voice pounding out lyrics such as "6 feet underground, where my heart was cold", this just may be the most depressing song that you will ever hear.

"Somewhere Between Here And There" is one of the only songs on the album that really creates a rich sound, and by that I mean all of the instruments working in harmony. Usually the instruments follow one another into a chorus, but this time they play in synchronized time which gives the song a very full sound, rather than the layered sound from the other tracks. Some excellent distorted keys open up this track, and the drum beats are at their most powerful. "Lost (I Miss You)" is a very weird track in the sense that they seem very happy and upbeat while singing, but the lyrics are incredibly tragic and gloomy. The song opens with the sounds of a beating heart, and then the track is dominated by some incredible work on the cello. "Disappeared" is a song that is literally built on percussion. For the first time on the album, the drums create the atmosphere and the guitar follows it. Some more sad vocals and spacey background keyboards lead into a blazing guitar ending. The final song, "She Prefers her Dreams", almost hits the 10 minute mark, and is the longest song on the album. During the song, the band has systematic explosions of sound that is very out of character for the group, but is a welcome change. The ending of this song really starts with around 3:30 left in the song, and just seems to keep building up and flowing on and on, and when it does eventually end all you want to do is play the CD over again from the top.

It's very hard to sum up this album, because most of everything has been touched upon already. I highly recommend this album to fans of Pink Floyd, Landberk and Shadowland. This band may be an acquired taste, but for those of you wanting some excellently engineered space rock, this is the band for you!

5 stars, no hesitation.

Report this review (#118588)
Posted Monday, April 16, 2007 | Review Permalink
octopus-4
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams
3 stars Take MOSTLY AUTUMN, pick off the celtic stuff and the female vocals but add a touch of Porcupine Tree or heavy prog in general. Looking at Pink Floyd add a bit of Roger Waters of the early period and remove a bit of David Gilmour, but not too much. Mix all the ingredients and you'll have an idea of what this album is about.

First of all this is an excellent album. What doesn't convince me is the "Psychedelic/Space Rock" label, as I hear more neo-prog and prog-folk in this French band.

The production is good as well as the songwriting.

"Time Has Passed" is the track that makes me think to the Mostly Autumn. Very melodic with a Josh like guitar very reminding of "The Last Bright Light". The storm noises between this song and "Do It Alone" are as Floydian as MA are. I'm not saying that BNP are a copy. Probably they are influenced by the Floyd in the same way. This second track has almost the same chords of "Breathe", a thing quite common even with Porcupine Tree. A big difference is the good sax solo that luckily doesn't have anything of Dick Parry. If I had to compare this song with something else I'd say Porcupine Tree or RPWL more than MA.

"Where Everything is Dark" turns back to the MA style. I'm a MA fan since their first albums so this is not a bad thing for me. Of course the male vocalist doesn't have anything of Heather Findlay and the choirs are very close to Porcupine Tree. (the Signify period, more or less).

"Face The Truth" opens with the noises of a western movie, then piano and voice. We are still in the same vein. This is a slow and melodic song. Think to "Feel So Low" to have an idea. Anyway the melody is not trivial and the guitar solo is not bad even if surely not very "original".

"Drops In The Ocean" is, as usual, opened by waves on seashores, then a subtle keyboard with high pitched bells starts baking the vocalist. This is a very nice song. Acoustic (12strings) guitar makes the rhythmic part. We are still somewhere between Floyd, MA and PT. Who likes the genre will surely like this album as well. In particular this song reminds me to "Mother Nature".

A child's cry starts "Interlude" followed by chimes, then lead guitar. Also this is very nice, mellow and soft but this time instead of PT this has a bit of Camel. Not bad, isn't it?

"Where Are U?" is a ballad with 12strings, vocals and cello. There's no need to say what it seems....

"Somewhere Between Here and There" is more electronic, with an intro that Edgar Froese would surely like. After the drums have joined the electronic and the vocals start we are in a late Floyd mood. The production is interesting as the vocals are not totally in foreground. I can compare it in some way to "Wearing the Inside Out". For me it's the best track of the whole album.

"Lost" seems really a Mostly Autumn song, even in the choice of the sounds. However it's a good song well played and arranged.

"Disappeared" is in the same vein. The guitarist is very close to Josh's style as well as the drums sound close to Blackmore Jr.

Finally the longest track: "She Prefers Her Dreams". A very good long song that seems taken from "Passengers" or from "Heart Full of Sky".

So in brief, if you like Mostly Autumn or Porcupine Tree (that means that you love Pink Floyd, too) you will surely like this album. Black Noodle Project is a good band. Should Heather Findlay look for a new band I suggest her to check if they want a female vocalist (and vice- versa). This is a very good album, full of good music but of a kind already heard, so even if I strongly suggest it to all the fans of the genre I can't say that it's essential. There's nothing psychedelic or spacey. Of course they are not heavy as PT and not folk as MA, so classifying them under the same subgenre of Pink Floyd is probably not too wrong.

3 stars (4 if you love this kind of music)

Report this review (#553190)
Posted Thursday, October 20, 2011 | Review Permalink

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