BREADCRUMBS

Mathew Parmenter is back, after a long undisciplined hiatus, with a spanking new release on the ProgRock.com Essentials label. I have a particular fondness for 'Unfolded the Staircase', their now mythical masterpiece album, as it arrived in the early years of the prog renaissance back in 1997. Today I have an equal partiality for this new 2025 recording , as it will be released globally on August 1, on the above-mentioned label, along with my own musical project Enigmatic Sound Machines' Imperfect Silence. We are forever twinned. Adorned with a stunning cover and manned by talented Chris Herin of Tiles on guitars, longtime bassist Matthew Kennedy as well as drummer Henry Parmenter , Matthew rekindles the American prog torch with this impressive effort.

Wasting little time with mundane introduction, the whopping title track clocks in nearly 17 minutes of playing time, the eye perhaps in the crow's mouth but thankfully our ears still functioning full throttle. Within a few seconds, the brooding theme is set in dramatic fashion, an organ roiling around a coiling bass slither, an oblique electric guitar slice, the thudding drums, elegant piano and finally Matthew's voice seizing the moment. The jazzy intensity collides lovingly with the crafty story-telling delivery for which Matthew is famous for, cooing like a bird when necessary, hushing and talking when the need arises. He remains true to his form, often referred to in the past as the US Peter Gabriel, which is a lofty honorific, to say the least. The sound is pristine, with each instrument having its own space, the piano clear as crystal, the bass lovingly caressing the low end, the piano tinkling like unbroken glassware and the pulse solidly entrenched. Chris Herin is the big surprise here, though he has proved his versatility over decades of service in various releases including his recent solo album. We know he can energetically rock but hear him dance with his fretboard! His playing flirts with experimental phrasings easier found in jazz/fusion, yet intensely melodic by the same token. When Matthew states 'touch me', I felt a shiver on my arm, when Chris peels off a rabid surge towards the finale, my trembling only increased. Surely among the most devastating epics of 2025, as the commentary tackles the issues of our times, and hell, we all know what they are, as its shoved daily down our throats , at times in abject surrender.

Though plastic tapping money is the current sigh (wordplay!), "Keep the Change" has more to do with the shrug of the shoulders in dispensing with pocket intruders. Acoustic guitar takes the listener into an altogether different dimension, a bluesy, almost countrified Americana tune, footloose or fancy free that aims at the endless fascination with human conflict, an affliction seemingly impossible to shed. I immediately thought of a wise quote by a former president : "Perhaps we need some outside universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world". Food for thought and no breadcrumbs in sight. A gem of a track, certainly on the outer fringes of classic prog but Music is music.

From prog, to folk-rock, might as well dip now into a jazz furrow, adding some bluesy elements to boot, as on the cool "When the Night Calls to Day", a smoky piano and drum platform for some heartfelt lyrical expertly sung , with occasional bursts of Hammond organ to add to the Oblivion Express feel. The choppy amalgamation of rhythmic piano and the shuffling percussion is a masterful creation, the ideal set up for Herin to slither into moody crevasses of the mind. One thing for sure, there is little comparison with other bands, Discipline has their own muse. The same deliberate piano thread lingers on "Aloft ", two pieces blending into one, keeping the atmosphere intact and unsullied, the electric guitar soaring away into the clouds, like majestic bird searching for new horizons. Matthew then wields his patented violin, joining in on the flight, eventually both string machines dueling in the heavens above, a mesmerizing arrangement that mere words cannot describe. 'Enigmatic Ocean' meets 'Lizard' actually came to mind at one point. I consider these two tracks to be joined at the hip, as one.

Hmm, what could be left to discover for the ravenous fan ? "Aria" is an operatic torch song, tackling reverently that foremost progressive sentiment ever, yes, it's the love word , the one that after thousands of years of art, no one can still not quite perfectly explain. Its bombastic, overpowering and dramatic. Nearly 11 minutes of attempted expression can offer hope but still there is no revelation, perhaps in another life. Pain is never far away. Matthew has managed to present the four perennial human struggles, namely life, war, freedom, and love, and delivering it musically in the 4 major stylistics that permeate the widest panorama of styles within one genre, which prog most certainly can 'crow' about for eternity.

We all need more Discipline in our overloaded lives, as well as in our prog collection. Bravo, and welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. 5 morsels