FETISH

German band SEVEN STEPS TO THE GREEN DOOR first appeared as recording artists in 2006, earning themselves some accolades and awards in their local music scene for their initial production. Since then they have released new albums a few years apart, often made with an eclectic and inclusive take on progressive rock. "Fetish" is their fourth studio recording, released by Progressive Promotion Records in 2015.

Seven Steps To The Green Door has crafted a magnificent album with "Fetish", it's as easy as that. The sheer diversity of this album will perhaps alienate some, but the generally easy-flowing compositions are easier on the ears than you would imagine from a band incorporating such a great diversity into their material. And a top quality mix and production also ensure that these fairly challenging compositions are easy to enjoy. An eclectic recording well worth inspecting, and on my personal shortlist as a strong contender for album of the year for 2015.

I have heard their music previously and after listening to this one, i can say without hesitation that this is their best yet. The music is a complex combination of progressive rock styles from jazz rock, modern metal with some djent riffs and symphonic adventures. The first part is showing many influences from old bands, like Gentle Giant with some vocals harmonies, and some Frank Zappa time signatures with saxophone. But the biggest influence seems to come from modern bands like Haken because of this kind of progressive rock that play with the listener by incorporating many styles and tempo changes in a single song. Many songs and especially the impressive epics "Still Searching" and "Ordinary Maniac" shows some dramatic moments where the vocals harmonies and the music comes together with growing intensity. The female and male vocals performance must have taken a lot of work here to achieve such results. The band has managed throughout this cd to combine some modern metal sound with those vocals harmonies to create some beautiful melodies without letting any technical demonstration dominate. The song "Inferior" show the control insanity of this band with quick mood changes by throwing in their serious music approach a bit of pop and lighter music. In the song "Imprisoned" the vintage keyboards are screaming with the mean male voice before a impressive break in which the drums are setting the pace for the rest of the band. "Bound in Chains" is a breather with his slower pace but with another dramatic part lead by the brilliant vocal harmonies again. You get the picture. How can i say something wrong with this little gem.

And here we have another example of extraordinary songwriting skills - again involved is Marek Arnold, a real allrounder when it comes to a progressive rock trademark in Germany. That means, whilst also being a cross-genre musician and studio engineer, he definitely has more than one horse in the race overall. And this with great success, just taking the last Toxic Smile album '7' into account, which appeared like a bombshell in 2013. The albums he participates are stylistically hard to pigeonhole in general, and this new SEVEN STEPS TO THE GREEN DOOR production does not make an exception from the rule.

While continuing to take a look at the comprehensive line up, not having heard one bit, it seems to be quite obvious that vocals are playing an exceptional role. This maybe akin to another german outfit called Frequency Drift due to a rather musical thrilled vocal style. Just sticking to the other main collaborators furthermore, drummer Ulf Reinhardt is part of the show once more, where Martin Schnella seems to be new when serving the basic electric guitar work. Amongst many others Arno Menses, Steve Unruh and Daniel Mash are guesting, other wellknown contributors to the prog realm.

The short opener Possible Delayed is meant to be ... eh, what? Okay, let's say the album's vocal prototype, or warm-up maybe, but if you will listen right on 'til the end - I bet you will, sooner or later - then a deja vu is coming up attached to the epic Ordinary Maniac, which can be crowned as the album's culmination point with good reason. Porn! is an example gracefully pointing to an eclectic flavour, quite irresistible, trickiness is the name of the game. This without running into something overloaded or overplayed, as there are also a lot of accessible and highly melodic moments to find on this album.

Still Searching is quite a good example for that, although - attention - also provided with a puzzling vocal acrobatic intermezzo. Well, some few are slipping into german accent here (with intent???). And I'm inclined to hear greetings to Freddy Mercury in between. 'Fetish' is a definitely unique production, a rich source for progressive art rock fans. Additionally the cover art perfectly mirrors the inspiration behind the concept. Although I'm actually more fond of Marek's Toxic Smile involvement this is a very prolific workout - a contender for a TOP 2015 list.

Seven Steps to the Green Door is a collection of very nice collection of diverse modern Neo Prog with very theatric overtones. This young German outfit of seven members wants to entertain you with their style, their storytelling, their musicianship. And they do pretty well here, but, they have a little maturing to do--a little refinement and skill-building to do. But they have a wonderfully creative spirit being expressed through their music--not unlike the Bender family band, INTROITUS. I also find myself feeling a kind of THIEVES' KITCHEN familiarity during several parts of several songs. Female lead singer, Anne TRAUTMANN, has a bit of the Amy DARBY feel while also quite a striking similarity to 80s pop jazz singer, BASIA. Still, some of the band's passages are a bit too imitative of past masters, which makes me a bit afraid for the direction they could travel in the future--a la American band Glass Hammer.

Favorite songs: 1. "Possible Delayed" (0:38) (9/10); 2. "Porn" (8:50) (9/10); the FREQUENCY DRIFT- and THIEVES' KITCHEN-like 7. "Last Lullaby" (9:01) (9/10) and "Ordinary Maniac" (16:10) (8/10), and; 6. "Bound in Chains" (8:53) (8/10).

3.5 stars rated up for mature compositional style.

3.5 stars. When I first heard about this band I just assumed they were a Psychedelic band with a name like SEVEN STEPS TO THE GREEN DOOR. Well I was way off as this young German band play more of an Eclectic brand of Prog. Man this album is getting rave reviews all over the place and I can certainly understand why as this is so well done and very proggy too. We get male and female vocals and these guys really delve into GENTLE GIANT territory with the vocal arrangements and harmonies which are really impressive. They can be quite heavy too which is contrasted quite well with the more laid back passages.

"Possible Delayed" is a short intro track of less than a minute of male and female vocals. "PORN!" certainly impresses with the intricate sounds that seem to counter each other. Male vocals around 1 1/2 minutes in until they are replaced by female vocals. A calm 4 minutes in but when it kicks back in we get a lot of intricate sounds again including sax this time. This really sounds good when it settles down with male vocals. Sax follows. Great track! "Still Searching" opens with vocals and backing vocals before the instruments join in, and it's the piano and drums standing out here as the vocals continue. Nice guitar solo when the vocals stop. Sounds like mellotron too followed by a GENTLE GIANT-like vocal arrangement. Piano only 5 1/2 minutes in as the sound continues to change.

"Inferior" opens with more excellent vocals and instrumental work. It settles down before 1 1/2 minutes and I like the mellotron that seems to sweep over top before 3 minutes. A piano solo follows and an almost circus-like melody. It then settles as themes are repeated. "Imprisoned" is melancholic not so surprisingly considering the title. Piano to start as sad female vocals join in. Some nasty organ follows then a full sound with passionate male vocals. Female and male vocals trade off then it turns instrumental before 6 minutes. This is good with that nasty organ returning and check out the guitar that follows with drums and piano. Great sound once again. It calms right down late with female vocals to end it. "Bound In Chains" is relatively restrained both vocally and instrumentally for the first 3 minutes. I'm not into the sound when it becomes more passionate but that lasts only about 1 1/2 minutes. The last part features male vocals.

"Last Lullaby" is also fairly laid back overall with male and female vocals. The drums and piano standout. It does pick up after 4 minutes then it turns quiet before minor riffs arrive. Flute too around 6 minutes. I like the instrumental sound a minute later. "Set In Motion" opens with piano, percussion and spoken words as sax and laughter arrive and take over. Then there's a somewhat jazzy section that soon turns powerful then male vocals join in. It settles with sax and female vocals as contrasts continue. "Ordinary Maniac" is the over 16 minute closer. Female vocals and a pastoral sound to start before it turns heavy 2 1/2 minutes in. Male and female vocals now then it settles before 5 minutes with percussion as the vocals stop. They are back and check out the fast paced vocals that follow and then the harmonies. It turns heavy before 13 minutes. Oh, there's also a violin solo by guest Steve Unruh on this track.

Apparently I'm in the minority with the less than 4 star rating but I just can't pull the trigger on 4 stars. This just is not an album I look forward to playing despite how well it's done. And at over 78 minutes this is too long.

A very capable neo-prog release which sort of reminds me of the sound that Thieves Kitchen may have evolved into had they taken a different path before the Water Road. Seven Steps to the Green Door certainly have an unusual lineup for a prog band, with two dedicated vocalists in the form of Lars Köhler and Anne Trautmann, but that's because they have a really keen sense of the use of the voice as a musical instrument in its own right, and through working complex vocal harmonies into their work and aptly choosing when to use which vocalists accomplish possibilities which are of substantial benefit to their compositions.

The fourth album from SSTTGD didn't come out until 2015, and by now there had been some changes in the line-up. Andreas had left to be replaced by Martin Schnella, who on the album was providing both guitar and bassist, with Heiko Rehm now only forming part of the live band. This is another concept album, which is about the features of the human psyche with all of its relation to lust, addiction and consuming of media. Marek also wrote some lyrics with Guy Manning (who undertakes the same role with Cyril, one of Marek's bands), while Melanie Mau is one of the eight additional singers. Melanie records with Martin outside of SSTTGD, and two of the song lyrics were written by Melanie, Marek and Martin. Ulf and Marek wrote all the music, apart from three songs where Martin is listed as a co-writer so he was already have a major impact on the band. It is also the first album where Ronny Gruber wasn't involved at all, but there are certainly enough singers!

Of the four albums so far, to my ears this is the strongest as they have stretched the diversity, yet somehow made everything commercially accessible and enjoyable while never compromising any musical ideals. There are times when there are multiple vocal harmonies, yet Marek is still the person holding it all together with his beautiful piano. Martin has easily stepped into the role vacated by Andreas, and although his soloing in particular is quite different, it feels measured and totally in keeping with everything that is going on musically. There is a confidence and feeling of assuredness that was somewhat missing from the previous album, and the feeling that here is a band that just can't do any wrong. The layered vocals on songs such as "Still Searching" are immaculate, with wonderful choral elements, and the diversity throughout this album makes it a crossover (in its very truest sense) progressive rock album that is truly essential.