WITHERED FLOWERS AND CINNAMON

ENNEADE is a progressive metal band from Lyon formed in 1995. Three demos then the "Remembrance" came out, containing a compendium of what was best at the time, fusion before the hour of bass, drums and heavy riffs, all sprinkled with parsimonious acoustics with dark intensity; I described them as a compendium of 80's KING CRIMSON, GENESIS and RIVERSIDE, more than OPETH and ANATHEMA, in short complex progressive metal, original neo melodic. Well, what about this baby coming out of a difficult gestation?

"A Foul Taste of Freedom", heavy attack, reverberating bass, phrasing vocals, acoustic base, a sumptuous and intimate break; it's heavy, nervous, can we do that in France? Yes !!!! A bit of the heavy, cantankerous, grumpy going RIVERSIDE; the hard riff finishes me off; medieval break for a time before setting off again on an invading, superb melodic rhythm. Acoustic "Illumination" in intro starting on a hellish rhythm, it's heavy a bit of SUBTERRANEAN MASQUERADE, the sound that shows the importance of the work, the 11 years of waiting have been put to good use; a little ANATHEMA and RIVERSIDE for the guitar which oozes, which languishes and it starts again, clean, it looks like a very good English group with the worked voice of Christian who does not suffer from an accent, it's well done and "Tinkling Forks" continues on a marimba then the Chapman bass à la KING CRIMSON; aside eyeing the Japanese and Genesis atmosphere all of a sudden with this spleen guitar from another world, stunning, simple but effective.

"Grand Buffet" always chained tumbles and launches into a rhythmic fusion, a sort of medieval, folkloric and Crimsonian tribal dance; confusing short title which questions the purpose of the music in its general sense, a car leaves and "Autumn" for the river title, 12 minutes of pure happiness: we regress on the Moog of yesteryear, a hovering side of the late SCHULZE in the preamble also makes a sign; the acoustics and the pads of Frédéric make the taf bringing the air on a dark bucolic ballad, always this divine mixture of zests of GENESIS and KING CRIMSON; the guitars of Christophe and Georges-Marc accentuate the mischievously melancholic atmosphere. The Crimsonian break goes from dark to rustic, challenges just like this jet of sax from Olivier recalling the progressive wanderings of the SUPERTRAMP, quickly assisted by the Genesis keyboard, in short the musical fusion brought to its paroxysm, between jovial depression and crystalline notes.

ENNEADE seduced me, directly, without detour! I don't need details on their delivery to tell you that it's a must, that it's simply my album of the month. A compendium of metal reminiscences, free jazz metal by keys, melodic prog metal, a singular sound that makes you think about these sounds mixed together in the progressive crucible and emerging in a new musical alloy of the 2020s. makes haste to put it back on track, again and... again.

Enneade's musical proposal is presented to us as a cluster of very varied and interesting influences, but which falls short in execution, giving us the feeling of having only heard the sketch of what could have been a great album. 'A Foul Taste of Freedom' captures our attention as it begins with some 'a cappella' voices to later remind us of the more acoustic Opeth and the more theatrical genesis (only in the voices), but which disappoints us with the uninspired final part. The same thing happens with 'Illumination' whose first four minutes are quite good, to later lead to more generic progressive metal. 'Tinkling Forks' and 'Grand Buffet' are curious but not very satisfying attempts to look like the King Crimson of the 80's. With 'Autumn' the band presents its calmer and more spatial side with atmospheric keyboards and sharp guitars - reminiscent of Marillion and at times Anathema- taking their time to develop the song and whose climax only consists of a saxophone solo.

So many questions were coming up closely when listening. Why does that appeal to me? And this not? Anyway, I'm so thrilled about their approach to compose music. But how to describe it in an understandable manner? I almost failed for a longer period ... okay, let's start with this humble inquiry. What is the criteria for being called veterans in the prog scene? Probably ENNEADE from Lyon, France should be considered too, since they are active for more than 25 years already. But not continuously, one might counter, because there's a gap of eleven years to their last album. However, so what, the interrupt was well used, as they obviously have developed a new spirit, could preserve, moreover even enlarge their skills. I mean, is it a completely new experience for you to incorporate a saxophone? It looks like that.

And so 'Withered Flowers And Cinnamon' turns out to be a rather eclectic art rock album, here and there also featuring a metal and ambient touch. Yet a challenging blend of styles they are going to offer. Hereby ENNEADE are showing some references to certain prog dinosaurs. I'm even inclined to claim that every particular song is provided with some distinct leanings. 'Life is a gamble, roll the dice ...' - within the opener A Foul Taste Of Freedom I'm going to hear some Jethro Tull feel for example, oh, eh, if those shredding guitars won't come up again and again. Yep, overall seen the album is very much guitar infected, and there's always a heavy loaded counterpart available. The following Illumination - my favourite so far - shines with an irresistible blend of acoustic and electric guitars. Just in a mellow Genesis vein on one side, but then again magically exploding every once in a while.

Marimba and/or xylophone will take the lead when they are passing over to Tinkling Forks. Performing like a couple featuring Grand Buffet this is intensively flirting with a Gentle Giant respectively King Crimson cast of mind. Finally, less thrilling, underlaid with ambient synth patterns and subtle drum support, withered flowers are pointing to Autumn most certainly with proper melancholy. You won't miss the mellotron here, also the aforementioned saxophone contribution by Olivier Sola. My summary, splendid, here we have a very enjoyable matter at hand. 4.5 stars. I'm quite sure this one will reach for my 2022 Album Top Ten in the end. A last question for now: do you possibly have more of such a high caliber in the pipeline?

Formed more than 25 years ago in Lyon, Enneade have not exactly been the most prolific of bands and this, their third album, is the first in 11 years. When they released 'Teardrops In Morning Dew' they were a sextet, but since then have lost one member to drop to a quintet, but apart from a couple of guests it is the same line-up as the last one so I have no idea why it has taken so long to get this out. It is surely not due to a lack of musical ability or material as this is a really enjoyable album right from the off. Somewhat strangely, for any album, let alone a prog release, it commences with a single unaccompanied vocal which is then joined by harmonies. When the acoustic guitars came in I was then very much prepared for a folk release, but instead what we have is an album which straddles Neo and Prog Metal while also bringing in other melodic influences.

One would never guess this was a French album as the vocals from keyboard player Christian Greven are clear and unaccented, and overall this comes across as being heavily influenced by the likes of Lifesigns, although with more bite when the time is right. In modern prog terms this is quite a short album as it is only five tracks and 37 minutes long, with only the closing "Autumn" more than ten minutes, but this is actually refreshing and certainly left me wanting more. They strike a really good balance between different styles, but always commercial, and if it were not for the heaviness they would probably be considered by many to be truly Crossover, as there are some delicious melodies within this. It takes repeated listenings to fully understand the depths within this, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable album the very first time it is played and I am sure this will gain many fans within the prog arena. I only hope we do not have to wait another 11 years for the next one.