DISCONNECTED

Airbag has released their fourth studio album Disconnected. To quote the band directly, 'Disconnected' "features six songs reflecting on the theme of alienation between the individual and society, what society expects from us as individuals, and our resultant failure to live up to those expectations. Each of the six compositions depicts the state of feeling on 'the outside' and out of touch with oneself and those around us." The music in this album is modern, rich and vibrant. It's definitely one of the best albums of 2016 so far and maybe a front runner for best album of the year. This really is a wonderful album and I love it.

Norwegian progressive rock band Airbag has released their fourth album 'Disconnected'. The first thing that stands out is the richness of the compositions. The six tracks have great songwriting and fantastic playing which results in a rich, vibrant and modern music. The band blends influences from acts such as Pink Floyd, Radiohead, latter-day Marillion, and glimpses of Anathema. There are no filler tracks, all 6 tracks are at the same superior level. In the end, Disconnected is a great album by Airbag, which I've been listening to it over and over recently and I can't get enough of it, this is one of those albums whose music grow on you.

I appreciate the incredible sound engineering of Airbag albums. I appreciate the dextrous facility Asle, Bjørn and the other band members have with all of the Pink Floyd 'tricks,' and I am one who (usually) loves long, spacious, slow building musical passages and songs, but the way songs 2-4, "Broken" (7:08) (8/10), "Slave" (8:39) (8/10) and "Sleepwalker" (7:05) (8/10) seem to find the band on cruise control as if they were driving 45 mph through the Nebraska cornfields is only disappointing. The opener, "Killer" (9:18) (9/10) is above this melancholic malaise because it has some power and emotion to its music and its message, and the title song, 5. (13:10) (9/10), also rises above because of its non-Pink Floyd, somewhat Steven WILSON feel and its variety of sounds, pacing, and structure. And the sparse and simplistic 6."Returned" (5:11) (7/10), feels like a slightly Post Rock epilogue, after-thought, or space filler. Too bad, guys. After you had reached the top with 2013's Greatest Show on Earth I thought you had figured out the keys to perpetual perfection.

A solid four star album recommended to prog lovers--especially Neo Progheads and lovers of the Pink Floyd sound.

Since 2009 AIRBAG from Norway are periodically arriving with a new album nearly every second year. Hereby their approach has not essentially changed over the course. They are providing highly melodic neo prog songs in a rather mellow outfit. This is garnered with psychedelic leanings, first and foremost Pink Floyd comes into mind here of course. Besides the keys I would say guitarist Bjørn Riis, also known for his acclaimed solo album 'Lullabies In A Car Crash', is predominantly responsible for that, while radiating some gilmouresqe references over and over.

That said they don't define something blatantly new every time, no, but AIRBAG again are offering a skilled song-writing and production level with 'Disconnected', that's for sure. Also including the keyboard respectively synthesizer additions this is multi-layered, well-balanced, not overproduced. The excellent album title track proves this as no other. Who is keen on nice atmospheric songs in the vein of Believe, Satellite, the mid-70s Floyd, is in good hands here - 3.5 stars.

Norway's Airbag play Pink Floyd-inspired melancholic rock thematically centered around modern technological dystopia, with a guitar that is often more upfront in the mix than usual for such styled bands, Well, Disconnected is not a bad album, but I think if you're new to AIrbag, you'll be better off with All Rights Removed or Greatest Show on Earth, since Disconnected is a carbon copy. It's almost as if the writing process went along the lines of, let's see, we've got to start with a slightly less lethargic track with a groove. Then slow things down with a ballad with a mournful acoustic opening. And then we must have a 10-plus song that features a Pink Floydian crescendo.

Norwegian band AIRBAG can trace its history back to sometime in the '90s, but didn't actually release an official debut album until 2009. Since then they have released new material at a fairly steady pace, and have become one of the better known of the contemporary progressive rock bands in the process. "Disconnected" is their most recent studio recording, and was released by the Norwegian label Karisma Records in the early summer of 2016.

Those who have a strong affection for the David Gilmour era of Pink Floyd should find Airbag's latest studio album to be warmly appealing, and then especially those most fond of Gilmour's guitar solo passages and the gentler parts of the Gilmour-era compositions. In addition I rather suspect that many fans of bands like Porcupine Tree, Sylvan and RPWL might find this recording to have a strong appeal.

Airbag is a Norwegian quintet that has been retracing the footsteps of Pink floyd with such confidence and creativity, that so far 2 out of their 3 albums landed on my favourites' list. Their sound is as pure as it gets, successfully mixing long and dreamy guitar solos with a slight retro rock sound made very accessible for the new-age listeners. Along the way they are reaching back to their above-mentioned masters for a lot of inspiration, and maybe even too much for the fourth time. At least that was the first thing on my mind when hearing their new album, which is, let us face it, a ripoff of their already showcased pinkfloydian ideas without a shred of innovation inbetween.

Nevertheless, Disconnected is still a decent listen, if you are just being introduced to their music. A mature band is doing what they are good at: setting the scene with some ok (albeit basic and light) neo-prog ideas stretched over 8-minute-long songs, where dreamy, held-out guitar solos are thrown at atmospheric refrains brought to us through the singer's perfectly matching voice. This was the formula for all the previous albums, and it was left unchanged for Disconnected, too. The problem is that this self-copying methodology wore out their pinkfloydian machine by now, which the band must feel too, as half of the songs do nothing but copy the already used melodies (especially from The greatest show on Earth), whilst the others try to introduce some new ones on the backbone of the above, but in a rather mellow, slowed down and overall tiring way. There are some exceptions though - 'Slave' for example manages to find its way to the listener even through its recycled ideas, and 'Returned' is also an elegant (albeit again brutally simple) closing of the album, reminding me of the finale of their first album. But as for the rest of the songs, they are way too similar not just to the previous ones but to each other also. Everything is interchangeable here, failing to make the impression of a new album, and instead sounding like a batch of deselected leftovers from a forgotten B-side album.

Funny how I was complaining in another review recently of how some bands mischoose their way of what new genre to venture into when the time for change comes, whilst here it is the lack of even trying is what bothers me. And if it is for a band that already sounds like a Pink floyd cover quintet, then I am blaming them even more for not even trying to do anything beyond "business as usual". In any case, this is not a bad listen, but can be recommended to those fans only, who have not yet worn out their copies of The greatest show on Earth. For them a next album might do the trick more, should it ever come with some more innovation, whilst for the others it is more recommended to visit the previous albums instead, to have a true taste of this brilliant band's forte.

The opening "Killer" prepares the listener for a rich, full-layered Neo/Crossover output, embroided with influences by the greats of 70s-90s (melodic) progressive rock. Unfortunately, expectations fall short beyond the opening attention-catching song: "Disconnected", despite being a sound-captivating album, retreats to tried-and-tested patterns of low tempos, nearly hypnotic, and safe structures.

The quintet seem like they have studied sound production and produce a very warm feeling through detailed orchestration, melodic guitar solos and delicate-but-intricate drumming. They blend mostly secondary influences from "traditional" progressive rock i.e. "Slave" shows a keenness to Pink Floyd via recent Anathema works while the rest of the album borrows from Riverside-alike soundscapes, very reminiscent of (the less interesting second era of) Marillion. The title track raises the game again after the opening with richer sounds and a lounge-jazz mood at times. The vocals suit perfectly the music and trodd on low-octaves.

If Hogarth-era Marillion is your thing, then you will most likely appreciate "Disconnected". Avoid if you prefer more exciting up-tempo prog rock.

3-3.5 stars

I've been hearing a lot of great things about Airbag over the last few years and I've even given All Rights Removed and The Greatest Show On Earth a couple of spins. Unfortunately, their music hasn't really worked for me so far due to it's lack of originality and it still feels like the band are trying to find their own sound within the vast ocean of influences that make up the bulk of their music.

I was initially hesitant on giving Disconnected a try, based on my previous encounters with Airbag, but after seeing the album on quite a few best of 2016 lists I've finally given it a try. Turns out this album did manage to pull me in with it's charming opening track Killer. The composition has a very a atmospheric approach to it and I especially enjoy the percussion work throughout the track which feels hypnotic to my ears. The rest of the material is also pretty descent but never reaches the heights that were set by Killer. I feel like Airbag is trying to hard to mimic Pink Floyd while still sounding modern and incorporation a Steven Wilson-like sound to their compositions. The most vivid example of this is the 13 minute title track that reminds me a lot of Porcupine Tree's Anesthetize but ultimately lacks a punch to it in order to make the material stand out on it's own merits.

Disconnected is an enjoyable album that gives the listener just the right dose of prog in order to make things interesting but it's not the most daring or challenging album to dig into. Give it a spin if your in the mood for atmospheric prog music with just enough memorable moments in order to make it an enjoyable overall experience.

***** star songs: Killer (9:18)

**** star songs: Slave (8:39) Disconnected (13:09)

*** star songs: Broken (7:07) Sleepwalker (7:05) Returned (5:10)