CONNECTED

Excellence, With Caveats

THE CYBERIAM Has the Goods

Punchy, hard-driving bass guitar. Supple, sensitive drumming. Nimble, varied guitar work and by the way I do love the acoustic guitar passages. Keyboard sounds to delight the keyboard loving listeners, and I am surely one of those. Vocals that are clean, high, expressive, and at perhaps too few times, expertly utilize harmonies. Songs that employ melody, show compositional flair, move seamlessly between themes and transitions and bring it all back into focus.

Connected

So on this the second long-playing studio release from Chicago, USA-based THE CYBERIAM, it seems like we get a heavy progressive rock lover's dream- the skilled musicianship, the compositional chops, the concept (which in these pandemic times is more keenly focused than ever), and some extended pieces to satisfy our urge to progress/to grow/to learn/to experience musical richness.

Yet, Caveats

My hesitation about full-voiced acclaim is two-fold: One, I thought perhaps twenty percent or more of total run-time could be trimmed. Seventy-two minutes-plus is fine, is not excessive (to those of us fanatics anyhow), is not unprecedented.

Yet I found myself saying at certain places, 'get to the point', or 'this drum solo passage would be great live, but is it necessary here?', or 'yes, we have that riff established, does it need more development or might we better just cut to the chase?'

And two, I recognize I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but those lyrics were pretty tough to make sense of- which seemed especially ironic in light of the important theme of 'connectedness', between, among, within us all and with all.

Who is the narrator? Who's the interrogator? What the heck is going on here?

Still, the Music

So many things to like. Heavy progressive music is a favorite of mine because I like drama, punch, flair, power, guts, massive build-ups and delicate transitions, variety, passion.

THE CYBERIAM delivers this in spades. From the opening eerie keyboards of "Interrogation Room B", to the closing fade-out of heavy band and harmony voices in "Bigger Questions", there are demonstrations of this kind of greatness. I'd have like to hear more of those lovely harmonies, since I think the vocals are a strength, and usually it seemed to me that the back-up voices were mixed a little too low.

I'd also have liked to hear more of the lead guitar, although there certainly were a few passages where guitar simply flew and soared.

But Mostly

Mostly, the music was pretty wonderful, and I think many of us progressive rock fanatics will strongly enjoy this album. It's polished, dramatic, intelligent, and fine.

In Conclusion

Excellence, with caveats, means to me this is four stars- "Excellent addition to any progressive rock music collection."

Summer 2021 sees the sophomore full-fledged album produced by that Chicago based CYBERIAM quartet. While considering cover art, song titles, and lyrics this in fact is showcasing a concept dealing with contemporary human connectivity concerning artificial intelligence, cyberspace, cosmic travels, and so on. And of course everything was deeply influenced by COVID-19 pandemic experiences, which has changed a lot. Anyhow, that didn't hurt in any way, in this case. Keith Semple (guitar) and Brian Kovacs (bass) are fronting this outfit, both responsible for the vocal task too. Eh, recognition value somehow during the first listening session. Ted Leonard guesting? Well, the singing voice on the opening song Interrogation Room B, I ultimately had to check the liner notes. No, he's not, it's Keith Semple I would assume. Just to forward my loose impressions, not that I have a problem with this specialty anyway.

Top-notch compositions and exorbitant musicianship. This album is a treasure! Heavy progressive rock fans are easily connected here, especially when you're keen on Rush, Enchant and Porcupine Tree inspired stuff. Just let me highlight the energetic hard-hitting In SaN1tY as one proper example. Followed by the heartfelt ballad Be Connected. Nothing so-so here, 'Connected' turns out to be a rounded album, because each and every particular track convinces me. Nevertheless I have to reveal my definite album masterpiece now. It's Sunset On Mars coming with perfectly incorporated astronaut speech. Definitely also something for sophisticated heavy space rock aficionados. So much talent in place, stay on track guys. I'm quite sure sooner or later there will come more exciting stuff from this band.

THE CYBERIAM is the American rock-metal group releasing their first opus in 2018. Various rock, alternative, prog, metal with delicate musicality and melting melodies added to innovative visuals during concert periods; texts on the essential human connection for music and not only. The sound is especially eyeing RUSH but also DREAM THEATER, TOOL, PORCUPINE TREE or even LED ZEPPELIN. A strong point comes from the drums held by fantastic Tommy and Frank's keyboards having had Jordan RUDESS as a teacher; Brian's bass is eyeing Geddy LEE's bass and you will understand that RUSH is at the center of this opus; Keith with his angelic voice and his too short solos allows to give a great integrity to the members, in short let's see:

"Interrogation Room B" prints the sound for a musical art melody with atmospheric, soaring and inventive pop-rock sound; Every 5 minutes, it's a fun break with drum solo, imposing bass, keyboards and roaring, progressive and playful flamenco solo; it starts with a bewildering crescendo, asking questions about not having known the group before. "The Moral Landscape" follows on a sound combining the unstructured voice of ANYONE with that of Lee from RUSH; strong bass leads the rhythm; it's nervous, impulsive and cool, bringing the aerial PORCUPINE TREE into dark territories. "Wakeup Call" and radical change with melodic acoustics, soft vocals and velvety, atmospheric synths; a new sound in this summer full of musical vibrations; fresh alternative prog rock variation and shimmering choruses. "Sunset on Mars" comes from Mars or NASA via the intro, it always goes melodic with Brian in the voice; it rises slowly and irreparably, the station wagon because it is there rhythmic, sensitive, astronautical I would say then the tearing of Keith on a destructive solo making it soar; we risk being breathless, I find the creativity of ZEPPELIN LEDs in their hard rock emotions, ending on the intro. "In SaN1tY" unfolds on a percussive groove, the riff incisive, nervous while keeping a smooth, airy range; strange mixture of fact where instrumental violence is combined with vocal sweetness.

"Be Connected" for the basic relaxing ballad, with that little extra the vocal juggling between Brian and Keith which gives a plus; the soaring digression at one point quickly joined by a solo too withdrawn for me, a calm piece which allows "Wilde Things" to find a little rushien pep; melodic title with a stronger chorus and a break phrasing bringing the divine bass of Brian on melodic heavy prog, then clearly metal-heavy-prog with a nice place of Frank on the synths. "Miles Away" for the longest track, always melodic at first, then drifting on progressive notes where the bass holds the rhythm leading me to rediscover the creativity of certain ENCHANT tracks; the final more nervous, metallic without becoming hard however; return with a nervous piano embellishing the finale. "Bigger Questions" concludes this long set with an influence of the dream theater, the voice in less; metallic rhythm, lively then it starts on the instrumental side on a fairyland of notes; latent atmosphere of the synth and the bass starts again, in short, there is vitaminized musical construction; final decrescendo a little long, to encourage lack?

THE CYBERIAM took advantage of the pandemic to release a little musical bombshell, peeping closely at supercharged RUSH. Be careful not to confine them on the other hand to this unique group because as I suggested in the preamble, the sound of this quartet is quite simply remarkable and varied, technical and venturing on progressive metal art-music without far concession. of a defined genre, except modern and of quality. Innovative and remarkable.