THE SECOND HAND

Are they serving their first or second hand here, or what? ... oh, it doesn't matter. It's not the bands first sign of life of course. This new ANUBIS album runs into a 70 minutes lasting revelation, when it comes to (my) prog standards. Going back to the very beginning ... similiar to Aisles due to 'Club Hawaii' this Aussie sextet made Fool's Gold and The Making Of Me available beforehand. Those songs are addictive really, sorta well sought out appetizer, which won't let you turn away in the aftermath, never ever. What stays, nothing but eagerly waiting for the release date ... and finally obsessively hoping for some more jewels, hell, yeah!

They are returning back to a concept album format, dealing with the downfall of media mogul James Osbourne- Fox, left paralysed and imprisoned in his own body after a severe brain injury, this obviously spiked with references to current conflicts worldwide. The cinematic touch predominantly comes from several interspersed samples, often representing the transition from one song to the next. As for that 'The Second Hand' ultimately comes as an epic unity, moreover somewhat ageless, sounding like a modern blend of neo and art rock, however, due to the offensive use of mellotron, organ and piano, also rooting in the early prog years too.

This album shows the band on its emotive peak, definitely. There's no need, respectively no chance, to emphasize any particular excerpt or involved musician. The entire compositional attitude belongs to the finest attempts I could listen to this year. Featuring diversity and a bunch of catchy moments, alongside with the technical and instrumental implementation, a really stunning result. By the way, Douglas Skene has offered another regarded effort with the band Hemina last year. Perfect, perfect, almost perfect! Hardly ever it occurs that I'll hand over a masterpiece status to a new album appearing ... now here we go!

Following their trend of releasing a new album every three years, once again Australia's neo-proggers ANUBIS continue the tradition by following up 2014's "Hitchhiking To Byzantium" with their fourth studio album THE SECOND HAND and in the process create another testament to a classic sounding progressive rock album steeped in the neo-prog traditions. Like most neo-prog albums and certainly so for ANUBIS, THE SECOND HAND is yet another concept album, this one about an aging media mogul named James Osbourne-Fox who becomes paralyzed after a traumatic brain injury only to contemplate the overall emptiness of his previous corporate lifestyle as he is forced to ponder the deeper complexities of the universe. In the vein of their earlier albums, this one too incorporates many sound samples that fit into the overall thematic scheme of things such as noises you'd hear at the stock market on Wall Street.

New to the band is bassist Anthony Stewart who takes over the position that lead vocalist Robert Moulding handled on the previous album thus upping the band roster up to six but once again there are many guest appearances that include three singing vocalists as well as a whole bunch of guest spoken word vocalists. Once again ANUBIS deliver the neo-prog goods with nine cleverly crafted tracks that take their time to let the thematic journey unfold with their brilliant lyrical prose coupled with the musical passages that utilize addictively catchy hooks that are all teased out with the appropriate dynamic shifts and intensity battles between soft and contemplative to more rockin' moments of ecstasy. The band seem to have gotten a new sense of confidence as they are tighter than ever with impeccable tightness and Robert Moulding sounds as if he's on the top of his game with some of the most confident vocal performances of his career.

One of the unique aspects of THE SECOND HAND is that the 3-part multi-suite and "These Changing Seasons" serves more as transitions that appear between other tracks and do not occur in the expected linear fashion. The two behemoth tracks on board are the near ten minute "While Rome Burns" and the near seventeen minute "Pages Of Stone," each unleashing ANUBIS' full potential that shows them more following in the footsteps of their first two albums rather than the third but still manage to create enough stylistic shifts as not to sound like they are merely retreading although let's face it. This is a formulaic neo-prog sound that fails to tread new grounds and unapologetically relies on the the tried and true formulaic approach that utilizes the steady flow of soft and heavy passages with instrumental workouts centered on Moulding's vocal deliveries. However, when it's done this well, no innovating experiments need apply.

THE SECOND HAND may come off as just another neo-prog album in the greater scheme of things but it is performed beautifully and with Moulding delivering his most diverse vocal performances of his career, it all comes together beautifully with spacey Pink Floyd atmospheric touches swirling around gentle acoustic guitar, extraordinary drumming and the modern day neo-prog trend of heavy rock guitar outbursts. As with all these sorts of albums, you really don't have to focus on the theme at all but rather can simply enjoy the music as it goes through the many strong compositions that balance all the elements superbly. While it may not deviate significantly from previous albums, something about THE SECOND HAND gives it a unique flavor albeit subtle but most importantly is that the album is rather consistent in that no weak filler track permeates the inner circles therefore no derailment of enjoyment occurs. Another strong release in the ANUBIS canon.

ANUBIS are a band out of Australia who play in that Neo-Prog style. I have their first two albums and gave both 3.5 stars. It's like they are close to being excellent in my music world but just short of it until I heard this one from 2017. A six piece band who feature plenty of atmosphere in their music and they always release concept albums. So I'm not big on concept records or that this is almost 70 minutes long but you know what? They nailed it this time. I don't have the previous album to this one. Love the samples of spoken words and sounds from the street or whatever. Mostly we hear this at the start of a song or the end or both. Excellent vocals and guitar but it's all good for the most part.

They do mention mellotron but it's samples, not the real thing but still I like the sound as they create a lot of atmosphere with it and the synths especially. This is a consistent album, in fact it's almost impossible for me to pick a top three. This is a great headphone album, especially for those who are into stories. There are 12 guests all adding vocals or spoken words. Neo-Prog fans probably already know about these Aussies but if not check out their discography please.