SCATTERED SHARDS

The album starts with a peaceful and melodic ballad ending with an ambient passage. The second song starts with the same ending of the first song and in the same mood, before an explosion of guitars in the progressive metal style, and it all comes down with a delicate touch of piano and some acoustic guitar. The vocals of Yenz Strurz are familiar and enjoyable, you will surely find a reference with many singers in the Neo-Prog world. The keyboards of Frank Kohler doesn't deceive with some beautiful melodies. The music seems to mix the Prog Rock with the Metal including many breaks and acoustic parts a bit like a more melodic version of Haken. "The Logic of Fear" is very well developed with some electronic effects and some impressive guitar riffs in a melody that is slowly getting some momentum." Outside the Box" close the album like the album started with a ballad who is really a continuation of the first song. The songs are very solid from start to finish with a big production and show how far can go the Neo-Prog bands with so much Prog Metal influences in their songs. I am sure that this band has succeeded in this direction where a band like Knight Area has failed.

By modern standards a second album in three years is a pretty torrid pace. But perhaps we reviewers do matter, and accolades for their 2016 opus Dawn of Eternity inspired them to keep up the flame. Crystal Palace's style has evolved over the years, but Scattered Shards continues in the similar vein as its predecessor, offering an accessible mixture of dreamier and heavier passages coated with a mysterious vibe and warm vocals similar to RPWL and Porcupine Tree. It's clearly Pink Floyd and neo-prog inspired stuff, but just as well might be in bed with mainstream bands such as U2 or even Coldplay, if they were heavier and more complex. What the new album does lack, though, is the abundance of killer melodies that Dawn had, but its still above-average .

German band CRYSTAL PALACE are one of the many bands that have been around long enough to merit a description as veterans. This band has been an ongoing venture for more than 25 years at this point, and in the last few years it would appear that they have started to gain more recognition as well. "Scattered Shards" is their eighth studio production, and was released through German label Progressive Promotion Records in 2018.

Crystal Palace as of 2018 comes across as a band that has a good take in reinventing neo-progressive rock, mainly by way of adding liberal amounts of electronic and metal tinges to the material, and in a more flamboyant and expressive manner than on previous occasions at that, but this is also a band that doesn't shy away from including gentler touches pointing back to older musical traditions when they feel for it. Perhaps one of the most daring neo-progressive rock albums I have encountered in a while, and a production I suspect quite a few will regard as being more of a progressive metal album actually. A fine production though, and a core audience here would be those who enjoy neo-progressive rock just as much as progressive metal, at least in my opinion.

Apparently this German band has been around since 1994, but it is the first time I have come across them. I am sure that they have a great reason for the band name, but all I can think of is a London football team that play at Selhurst Park. I actually went there once, and saw Harry Kewell score the best goal I ever saw at a match, back in the very dim and distant past when I followed the round ball game. Anyway, I digress. This is their fourth studio album, so I am little surprised that I haven't heard of them before this, especially given their longevity, as I thought I knew pretty much most of the bands around back in the Nineties. Consequently I actually don't know if this is similar to their previous albums or not, but what we have here is a neo-prog act who are both staying solidly in the genre and also moving further afield. Some of the keyboard sounds pulse as if they are coming from electronica, while when the band do decide to break out they do so in a matter that is more reminiscent of prog metal than neo.

The vocals are often to the fore, especially when they are playing in a more atmospheric style, but it is the dynamic contrasts between the different styles that really make this album stand out. I am a little surprised that the instrumental passages aren't longer and more frequent, given that singer Yenz is also the bassist in this quartet, but as it is there is an interesting balance. I'm not a fan of all of the keyboard sounds being utilised, but when they are placed against piano as at the beginning of 'Inside Your Dreams' the contrast works very well indeed. This comes across as an incredibly polished and well performed album, and given that they are more than 20 years in perhaps that should be expected, although it should be noted that only Yenz (back then just providing bass) is the only player who was involved back then. This is a solid album that definitely takes me back into the Nineties, while also being relevant for today and is well worth investigating.