HARVEST AORTA

Oh wow wow, now we're talking about original sounding music boy. "Harvest Aorta" is one of the most pleasant discoveries of this year, really grabbing my heart. I've not listened this once, twice, but instead, four times in a row and a day ago, again. Guess what I'll do tomorrow morning (hehe). Strange thing is that this music reminds me (sometimes) of another E-xxxxx starting artist, Epignosis. Except singing, it's something that you won't find here much (more like never).

A funny thing is that this is not Metal at all, more like, well, I don't know what it is, maybe it would fell under category of Crossover, or even Symphonic (Epignosis is symphonic ? well, then what symphonic means in these two cases, it's complicated). There's no atmosphere we can talk about, it's more like collection of songs related (last epic) with weak linking, but I don't care about these donkey ears, it works and it's the important thing. It's a thrilling album, which means that they can shock without being brutal. Gentle barbaric traits to be said. Some ambient atmospheric (these words are synonymous, aren't they?) going on in the middle of the song.

5(-), but I'm sad that I can't rate higher. I wanted to, but there is too much of time where there's not so interesting music, trying to be "artistic" and like pieces of compositions, but in this, it fails. In other elements, it rocks (prog rocks)

Dedicated to my beloved Mary

EDIT: Still rock, changing rating

A highly polished instrumental album with definite metal or at least heavy foundations which does somehow keep one's attention and admiration throughout its exceptional length. The 42-minute epic, "Harvest Aorta" is quite masterfully constructed to never bore the listener, always keep him at the edge of his seat waiting for the next dénouement--which rarely ever fails to deliver. The opening song, "Springsong," starts off with promise, moves into a jazz fusion sound/style, some lounge, and some YES-like parts, but is, ultimately, lacking (the last four minutes are by far the most interesting). (6/10) The next two "Prism" and "Memoirs" are good, with some nice development, emotion, and catchy melodies (7/10 each). The epic is very good, not a hardship to listen to--IMHO, in step with its closest competitors, RIVERSIDE and PORCUPINE TREE (8/10). Great recording, excellent musicianship, very good song constructs; worth repeated listenings. 3.5 stars: rate up if you like heavier music, down if not. A nice addition to any prog lover's music collection.

EPHEMERAL SUN's second release is an all instrumental affair that has received a lot of positive reviews of late and for good reason. The sound quality is excellent and the music can be heavy although I wouldn't call this particular release Prog-Metal. They do contrast well the heavier and lighter passages throughout as the keyboards and guitar lead the way.

"Springsong" kicks in heavily fairly quickly with synths helping out. Piano before a minute then it settles in with guitar and a beat.The heaviness with synths are back after 2 minutes then it settles down again quickly. Drums and synths lead before 5 minutes then it kicks back in with guitar. Again it settles back. It's heavy again 8 1/2 minutes in before settling back at 10 minutes. It sounds like sampled mellotron before 11 minutes as sampled words join in.

"Prism" has a nice heavy intro then it settles right down before a minute. It's building then the guitar starts to solo. It settles with piano before 4 minutes. It's much fuller after 5 1/2 minutes right to the end. Nice. "Memoirs" opens with piano and atmosphere. A change after 1 1/2 minutes as laid back guitar leads. It's okay. "Harvest Aorta" the title track is the over 42 minute closer. Like the first track we get constant contrasts throughout between the heavier, fuller sections and the mellower, lighter passages.The ending is humerous.

A good album that just hasn't clicked with me for whatever reason. 3.5 stars for now.

A Behemoth of Biblical proportions...

After a six year wait comes the second full studio release from elusive experimental collective, Ephemeral Sun.

The Good: This album surprised me on two levels.

Firstly, the quality of the music is absolutely breathtaking. Whereas instrumental albums usually need an extra something in their compositions to make up for the lack of vocals, Harvest Aorta is just so perfect that a 10 mile 'no singing' zone is regulated around each copy of the release.

The second thing that blew me away was the album structure. Just four songs here. Opening with two longer tracks then one short leaves us with an aggregate running time of 28 minutes. A decent length which could have easily been rounded off with a solid 10~15 minute finale. And that's what I expected. But when the title track appeared I had to read it twice to make sure my eyes were not playing tricks on me...

41 minutes.

That's not epic, that's monstrous! Sure there are multi-part suites of similar duration, but a single track, and an instrumental at that!

Civilizations came and went, I missed the birth of my (imaginary) child and the first manned mission to Mars, but eventually this incredible journey came to an end (heralded by a wheezing accordion and backing vocals provided by farmyard animals).

I think it took me about two weeks to recover before revisiting this release, but since then I have listened to it maybe ten times and can safely say that it remains absolutely captivating. Whilst you could just leave it on in the background for ambient effect, to achieve full appreciation it requires full attention. Set aside some time in your day for Harvest Aorta then play it from start to finish with no interruptions, preferably just before going to sleep. You won't regret it.

The overall sound of the album is quite difficult to pin down. It's labelled on this site as progressive metal, but the abundance of lush multi-layered synthesizers make me more reminiscent of heavy prog with psychedelic/space rock elements.

The Bad: The production can a bit blunt at times, especially the drumming.

The Verdict: There were many excellent albums released in 2010, but was the only true masterpiece.