MAXWELL'S DEMON

This is an interesting musical project from the USA featuring keyboard player Graig Beebe and guitarist John Galbraith as the beating heart of the band. In 2001 Maxwell's Demon released their debut album entitled Prometheus, then we had to wait eight years for the successor named Diablo (2010). This second album features Graig and John, along a rhythm-section and as guest musicians a classical guitarplayer and a string quartet. On the band their website I read about the impressive vintage gear, from the Hammond organ with Leslie speaker, Minimoog - , Prophet V - and Oberheim synthesizers to a Rickenbacker bass, Gibson ' and Fender guitars and Moog Taurus bass pedals, wow, mouthwatering!

Now about the music, that sounds as a blend of many styles, with a lot of variation and an adventurous mind. The one moment it's 24-carat symphonic rock like Swedish Anglagard (compelling with Hammond, Moog and Mellotron a fat Moog Taurus bass pedal sound and some classical guitar) or fiery and propulsive like Red-era King Crimson (growling bass and soaring Mellotron choirs). The other moment the sound is more experimental like Larks' Tongues In Aspic- era King Crimson featuring captivating interplay between violins and percussion, avant-garde overtones and chamber music with a genuine string quartet (duelling with the Mellotron choirs and violins, not average prog, to say the least). The hints to legendary Classic Prog bands are obvious, but Maxwell's Demon have succeeded to blend these elements with strong own musical ideas, embellished with an awesome vintage keyboard sound.

My rating: 3,5 star.

Maxwell's Demon is a band from USA with two albums in their pockets so far. First album from 2001 named Prometheus find the band in musical influences somewhere between King Crimson and Anglagard or Sinkadus, a well worth album but far from being something special. The album is all instrumental, a one track album clocking around 39 min and tells the story of Ayn Rand's short story "Anthem". There are lots of flute passages, that goes very well in this context and combined with mellotron and the rest is quite ok most of the time. Is quite diverse in songwritting, mellow parts, more up tempo, all is here, Craig Beebe the head of the band and the keyboard player done a good job, but I needed more memorable parts, I feel like I've heared this before here and there. Non the less a good record, that worth to be discovered and has same value and their next one released years later Diablo from 2009. 3 stars. Nice cover art.

I didn't really enjoy this tune that much. Beside the fact it is an instrumental affair which is difficult to achieve in terms of communicating a theme and building layers of depth upon it without the aid of lyrics to direct the 38 minute single song album; it just didn't have the appeal that I was hoping it would. This isn't to say the album isn't alright, it is competent musically - has a lot of different sections and whatnot, but interesting does not a whole album make. Put aside the fact it is a one song album, it's only 38 minutes of music, short - so you'd have to expect it to grip you for every moment to really show its value. It's not really the case for me, yet. I may revisit it soon, but presently 3 stars is all I can award. Reasonable, but not essential in any way.

MAXWELL'S DEMON is the brainchild of Craig Beebe and John Galbraith two very intelligent and talented guys from the USA.. This is their second album called "Diablo".Their first record called "Prometheus" was released in 2001 and was based on Ayn Rand's book "Anthem". In fact John who composed that album was half way through it when he realized he had copied Neil Peart's idea from "2112", but thankfully he decided to press on and finish it anyway.This new record is Craig's baby you could say and it's much more personal. "Diablo" was the nickname given to Craig's inner demon.To explain this you'd have to go back to the year 2000 when Craig took a job in San Jose far from his Chicago home and he thought this would help with his clinical depression but the opposite happened.That year was Craig's low point but thanks to friends, therapy and anti- depressants he has been a lot better ever since. So yes this album is a dark journey into the mind of a clinically depressed person and every track and almost every note seems to signify something from that year. Check out the album cover too in regards to this.This is an all-instrumental release like the debut, and many of these tracks blend into one another creating the feel of one long suite. I'd like to thank Craig and John who have offered up some great information on the ProgEars site.

"Mirage" depicts Craig's false sense of well being in his new surroundings after his move. Drums, guitar and pulsating organ to start and then it settles with violin and viola before 2 minutes. It picks up a minute later. Nice. Chunky bass before 4 minutes with strings, drums then organ. "Comedown Seduction" is more bombastic with guitar and drums. Love when the mellotron rolls in. "Imbroglio I" is kind of eerie with violins and drums while in the background you can hear slicing violins. "Celexa" is actually an anti-depressant medication. Slicing violins and mellotron sound amazing to start. It settles then suddenly brightens giving us that superficial happiness that comes with taking this drug. "Deceptive Cadence" settles with strings and some acoustic guitar later. A tough melancholic listen to be honest. "Crash" is mellow to start with some incredible sounding mellotron then it crashes in hard. Nice guitar here and mellotron as chunky bass and pounding drums help out. Organ follows. Great section.

"Imbroglio II" settles and it's eerie and melancholic. Some cool sounding mellotron here. Fat bass lines late as it becomes more powerful. "Arzames Revisited" is brighter with guitar, organ and drums standing out. "Breathe" features acoustic guitar then keyboards. It kicks in late and blends into "No Jesus" where we get a great sound with mellotron, guitar and drums. It settles some before 1 1/2 minutes with organ, drums and guitar leading. "Imbroglio III" has a lot of dissonant strings. "225 Piece Jigsaw" has a dark atmosphere to start. Intricate sounds take over. Cool tune. "Old Tapes" is powerful and heavy. Mellotron after a minute and 2 1/2 minutes in when it settles. It kicks in before 4 1/2 minutes then settles again a minute later to end it. "Mirage Imminent" starts out with drums, guitar and bass. Synths replace the guitar. A calm with synths 2 minutes in. Then it picks up again.

Another complex and incredible work from the band, and while I still like the debut more at this point, this album is something i'm going to enjoy for years to come.

I can't tell you how impressive this piece of music is ! It's one song almost 39 minutes long called "Prometheus". This is an all instrumental work consisting of mellotron, flute, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, organ and more. This is very complex music that is very intense. In the liner notes the band specifically thanks "ANGLAGARD for inspiring this project". And certainly that is who I thought of most of the time I listened to this amazing work as well as SINKADUS. I guess SINKADUS because of the flute and the sombre and melancholic mood that permeates the sound. A word on the name of the band which was inspired by an imaginary creature that mathematician James Maxwell created to contradict the second law of thermodynamics. Yeah, it's sort of complicated just like their music. The music doesn't have the type of melody that your going to be tapping your toes too, it's more made up of intense arrangements that change constantly and leave you saying wow ! I felt it was like enjoying a gourmet meal made up of many delicacies that were being served to me in different ways for almost 40 minutes. You know what I mean ? Hearing the same sounds being arranged differently throughout the song.

The song starts off with flute, odd metered drumming and organ. Mellotron comes in after 3 minutes.The song pretty much stops and slowly rises 4 minutes in with flute and organ. We get a full sound 5 minutes in and the drum/organ interplay is outstanding as the song begins to accellerate. 8 minutes in the song pretty much stops again as eerie and haunting flute sounds arrive.The guitar gently and slowly plays as drums come in rising to a breif full sound. Mellotron 10 minutes in and more gentle guitar. A full sound arrives before 12 minutes, then it calms down again with flute leading the way. SINKADUS comes to mind here.

The guitar sounds mournful as mellotron comes back before the tempo picks up. We get about a 5 minute section of steady drums with variations of flute, guitar and organ. Check out the mellotron 21 minutes in ! Marching style drums a minute later before more mellotron 24 minutes in. The song almost stops again 26 minutes in and rises with mellotron and a catchy drum, guitar and organ melody. 30 minutes in the song calms down as we get a spooky, haunting mellotron and flute passage. The song picks up tempo before 35 minutes with flute, organ and drums leading the way. Now it's time to take a shower ! Intense !!

I am so surprised that this record isn't more popular in prog circles.This is the definition of prog.

Wow. Fans of Anglagard, Anekdoten, Yes (Relayer and Tales era), Univers Zero, King Crimson, 20th century orchestral and chamber music, Camel or Wobbler will love this band. They use many great keyboards on the CD: Hammond B3 Organ, Mellotron 400, Moog Minimoog, Moog, Memorymoog, Sequential Circuits Prophet V and Oberheim OB- Xa. "Prometheus" required a full score to perform due to the complexity of the music! The music is VERY complex yet melodic just like Anglagard. The guitar playing is a bit more subdued than that band however. The drumming fills out the music quite nicely. The ONE song on the CD is 38 minutes long filled with many time changes and mood changes. If you are a lover of symphonic prog way more involved and complex than your average neo-prog band, this is a must have CD. They are working on a followup CD and I can't wait. Here is a link to a one minute sound clip: www.maxwellsdemon.com/mp3/head.128k.mp3