DECADENT LIGHTS

Being honest with myself and with the readers, I must say that when I received the CD called "Decadent Lights" by the USA band EVOLVE IV, I was unimpressed, found very little Prog to comment and for that reason I had no interest in the, but being that is was hard to send a mail to Peter Matuchniak (Founder of the band) telling him I had to reject his brainchild, specially being so nice, I gave them another listen.

And guess what? The band started growing on me more and more with each listen, I still believe they are not the most Prog band in history, but they have enough Progressive elements to be in Prog Related or maybe even in Crossover. So asked for their induction and they were admitted by the Administrator's team, something that pleased me a lot.

What can I say about the album?

Well, it's a nice blend of styles, characteristic of bands that come from USA in the XXIst Century, they present us an interesting fusion of various elements that go from simple mainstream to Heavy Prog, passing by some sort of Symphonic with Jazzy leanings, ambient, a bit of Country Music hints, and even good classic Rock & Roll with Power ballads.

If Progressive Rock consists in blending of different genres, well these guys do this with great style, so they deserve by own right to be in Prog Archives.

Michael Eager is always sober and competent in the vocals, but even better in the guitar, Peter Matuchniak is in charge of the keyboards and with all his experience fdoes an excellent job, both musicians well supported by a solid rhythm section formed ny Jim DeBaun (Bass) and Paul Sheriff in the drums. It's obvious we're in front of skilled musicians who will be outstanding when they find a unique sound in one determined sub-genre.

All the tracks are enjoyable, but the ones that impressed me more are the ever changing "Number 16", the jazzy "Listen Up", the incredibly well elaborate Rolling Along and of course the mysterious "Saturday's Gone".

Now, please don't consider my star rating too seriously, because we have guidelines, 5 stars is for a Prog Masterpiece, and this is not the case, 4 stars is for essential addition for any Prog collection, I believe they could be close to essential but for a music collection or even Rock collection, not for the case of Prog exclusively.

So I have to give them 3 stars, because that's what the guidelines indicate, but they deserve more despite not being totally Prog. If you are a Proghead who likes his favorite genre blended with other styles, this is your band, and in my case, "Decadent Light" is still spinning in my CD player.

A slightly odd creation this debut album from transatlantic collaborative project Evolve IV.

The band explore a form of complex music that falls withing most criterias for progressive music; with the guitarwork in particular being quite quirky at times. Double or triple layered guitars are indeed key assets in this production, that is very much a guitars and vocal driven affair.

Clean, undistorted guitars are the chosen sound for most of these tunes though, melodic soloing and mellow licks dominating through and through along with well-performed pleasant vocals; that mixed with effective but often slightly simplistic rhythms create a distinctly commercial sounding atmosphere.

It's hard to compare these guys in terms of style though; some sort of hybrid mix of acts like Rush and Man comes to mind; sans any heavy guitar explorations and with less keyboards. Well mad and well performed though; but the compositions aren't spectacular by any means at this stage of the band's career. In time this could be a very intriguing act - one to follow for those enjoying the lighter side of prog.

This is a new album to me, even though it is actually quite old, as it was released back in 2007! Peter Matuchniak kindly sent me some older albums of his, so here we have a quartet comprising Michael Eager (vocals, rhythm guitar), Peter Matuchniak (lead guitar, keyboards), Jim DeBaun (bass) and Paul Sheriff (drums). It took me quite a while to get into this album, as I wasn't too sure of Eager's vocals, which are more workmanlike than stunning, but if ever an album deserves listening to more than once then it is this one. Peter may be an ex-pat (there are a few of us about), but he plays as if he was born American as there is very little in his style to let one realise that he formed his first band (Janysium) when at Little Ealing Middle School!

There are times when he lets his more progressive style come to the fore such as when he is breaking through "Rolling Along" where Natalie Azerad (who also performed on later Matuchniak albums) provides some wordless lead vocals. A special mention should also be made of saxophonist David Gilman (who has also kept his relationship with Peter) who has a major impact on "Listen Up". This isn't a classic album, yet the more I played it the more I enjoyed it. It isn't pure prog, but American rock with proggy influences here and there, and while the songs are fairly commercial, poppy and in your face, it is Peter's guitar which really makes it stand out. Apparently, there were supposed to be more albums as they had written a lot of material, but to this day this is the only release. It may not be essential, but it is still well worth a listen and is thoroughly enjoyable.