METAPHOR

The music for the album "The Pearl" was recorded in 2018 and released as an album in early January, 2019. The album is based on a story about a young man that ventures out into the world to find a pearl that is protected by an evil dragon. But, as the adventure continues, we discover that the dragon is the least of his problems.

"The Open Road" starts with a long introduction with the full band based off of a 5 / 4 meter and a repeating riff which also ventures to other meters while it plays out. After a while, the meter shifts again and a new theme emerges just as the vocals start. This is the style of music you can expect throughout this album. The sound is a complex and ever shifting sound and meters, but don't necessarily expect a Genesis sounding band anymore as it is definitely Neo-prog with a retro feel, but based off of the sound of many bands now. The obvious thing that remains Genesis-like is the verbose music, and with better vocals, it would be more enjoyable. The music is good enough and full of progressive tricks and traits.

One of the complaints many people have had with Mabry's vocals is that his voice is one dimensional. This continues to be the case on The Pearl. His voice is okay, at least it isn't grating or obnoxious, but it is also not very emotional as his range is limited. There are several places where the music or concept idea requires that he pushes those limits and it make his weakness apparent when he approaches those limits especially in the tracks "Lying Down with Dogs" and "The Love Letter" for example. As far as the instruments go, there is a nice balance of both keys and guitars with a solid bass and percussion. The musicians are definitely talented and the production and recording is mixed very well so that all instruments are heard. The songwriting and the lyrics are well done. Overall, the music sounds great, but there isn't any experimentation here at all, just great, complex neo-prog.

The tracks that stand out to me are "The Open Road", and "The Mist of Forgetting" for its ever-shifting moods from melodic to quirky. Most of the tracks here have some great sections that would have been much better with better vocals. "Romancing the Wurm" would have been a great track if it had been an instrumental or done with another vocalist. It seems that Mabry's vocals get worse as the album continues.

Since this album and Metaphor's music relies so much on lyrics, it would do them a lot of good to find a better vocalist as this seems to always be a problem with their music. On this album, the musicianship is better than ever, but the vocals lack, and they need to either write their music to match his range or find someone that can sing what their music requires, and I tend to think the latter option is better. The album would definitely be in the 4 ? 5 star category if this were the case.

Metaphor proove with this album to be among the finest modern US Prog bands, borrowing the inspiration of 70's legends and coming up with another nice work full of interesting tunes, refreshing melodies and lovely arrangements, offered mostly through long and elaborate compositions.Cross references with compatriots CRUCIBLE, ECHOLYN and ILUVATAR are reasonable, as Metaphor's music has a strong GENESIS and MARILLION feeling throughout, always delivered with a personal touch.The pieces evolve from smooth, lyrical textures to emphatic, symphonic passages, characterized by excellent keyboard parts and great guitar work.The lush orchestrations are definitely satysfying, the vocal parts are pretty sensitive and the changing themes on organs, Mellotrons and synthesizers keep the listener's interest in a certain deegree.Their songs contain some light, poppy sensibilities akin to SPOCK'S BEARD, but the musicianship is absolutely great, highlighted by the very good 17-min. long ''Yes and No'', a fine example of melodic, emotional yet intricate and serious Progressive Rock with tons of shifting moods, dramatic lyrical moves and technical performances.

A trully consistent group with nice instrumental ideas and a decent level of songwriting.''Entertaining Thanatos'' is a very good effort of tight Progressive Rock along the lines of the classic 70's groups, offered through a modern and fresh sound.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

A decent effort by this group, but it's not going to set the world on fire, and it's not something I'm likely to revisit terribly often - but good enough to come back to occasionally. A solid three stars.

Professionalism is actually what fully characterizes this album.From the shorter track to the more extended ones,everything in here is carefully arranged and every note seems to be in the right place at the right time.Obvious influences come from the Symphonic Rock scene,so fans of GENESIS,YES,SPOCK'S BEARD and even MARILLION and IQ will find plenty to like in ''Starfooted''.Add to these symphonic influences some complicated GENTLE GIANT-like twists and you are totally in the game.Guitar work ranges from dramatic HACKETT-ish inspired melodic stuff to to more energetic grooves,close to IQ's Mike Holmes.Very good stuff indeed and moreover you can add the excellent and varied keyboard work of Marc Spooner.You won't face only the familiar and well-arranged organ and synth sounds in ''Starfooted''.Prepare yourself for some awesome piano performance and surprisingly there is even some vintage harpsichord sounds to be heard throughout.On the other hand I personally discover a slight black hole of compositional structure to the longer tracks.Beware:this is excellent stuff as well,but the themes seem not to stick that much to each other.Despite their heavily GENESIS- influenced music,I would more likely compare METAPHOR to bands trying to fully re-capture the vintage 70's spirit and thus,SPOCK'S BEARD,THE FLOWER KINGS,STRANGEFISH or MAGIC PIE fans will propably get thrilled a bit more than other fans.

''Starfooted'' is pure and Classic Progressive Rock of the old school.Lots (and I mean it) of great music will fill your time with memorable moments.The problem is that this excellency of some tracks won't follow the whole album...and this is the main problem of nowadays too extended CD's. However about 50 minutes of really nice music will lead to a fair 3.5 rating.Certainly a band to watch and a very strong (and of course recommended) debut!

"Ladder From The Sky" opens with almost spoken words as the sound builds. I like the angular guitar with the sampled mellotron here.This is one of my favourite sections on the whole album. Synths take over for the guitar late and the drums become more prominant. "Chaos With A Crown Of Gold" opens with piano followed by a fuller sound including guitar. It settles with vocals 1 1/2 minutes in. They do get theatrical before 5 1/2 minutes. "Starfooted In A Garden Of Cans" has a 1 minute intro then the tempo picks up. It settles with organ breifly before 6 1/2 minutes. Another calm after 8 minutes. Almost spoken words 10 minutes in as the tempo continues to shift often. "The Illusion Of Flesh" is a short tune with acoustic guitar and reserved vocals,although it does get fuller.

"In The Cave" is led by mellotron and drums early then vocals join in. This reminds me of FRUITCAKE I must say. It's fairly laid back really. "Seed" opens with some atmosphere before vocals and a beat take over 1 1/2 minutes in. This is very GENESIS-like. More atmosphere after 5 minutes. Strummed guitar then vocals after 6 1/2 minutes and a fuller sound follows. "The Bridal Chamber" is a short tune that opens with strummed guitar as soft vocals join in. Drums and piano follow. It settles again late. "Don't Sleep" opens with mellotron then it kicks in around 2 minutes. I like this especially the bass. It settles back before 7 1/2 minutes to the end. "Battle Of The Archons" is one of my favourite tracks at least until the vocals arrive before 5 1/2 minutes. Nice bass in the first half of this one. "Assumption" is the short uplifting (musically) conclusion of strummed guitar and vocals. Keys do come in and mellotron.

Once again a good album but with lots of flaws as far as my tastes go.

Metaphor is in all reviews regarded as a Genesis clone (or at least cover band) and therefore referred as such where the influences are concerned. Of course these influences are there but so are many others but to me this band produces highly original compositions with great variations and transitions within the songs. These are so original, I hardly heard anything like this before and I feel it's cheap to link it all to the seventies as if Metaphor owes it all to that era and the bands that domiated that period. Metaphor is simply and incredibly talented band, mainly where the compositions are concerned but also with the execution is hardly anything wrong. I disagree with the comments that John Maybry is a poor vocalist. I think he fits these songs and this musical style perfectly.

But I keep coming back to the songs and then mainly the first 5,6 which are simply amazing. The build up is genius and the songs are very complex and therefore so worth while to check out. It will take at least ten spins to begin to get the hang of them and after that you start enjoying them more and more. So many musical ideas put in each song and still they all make a perfectly flowing composition. Twists and turns flying all over the place, I simply can't get enough listening to this album.

In the end it's a pity the last few songs really go a few steps too far where originality is concerned because that spolis the highest possible rating for me. If the album would have consisted of the first seven songs it would have been a masterpiece for me but as it is now I will have to cut down to four but it's still 4,5 everything considered.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR EVERY PROG FAN !!

THE METAPHOR plays that good old Prog from 70s, without any sign of modern techs or influences. Even drums sound a bit sloppy, as if recorded in some kind of 70s basement. I like debut record of these guys very much, it was innovative and striking, with music inspired by GENESIS, KING CRIMSON, GENTLE GIANT and JETHRO TULL (and lesser known British/American Prog Rock acts) and vocals that reminded me of Steve Hogarth of today's MARILLION (!). Quite unusual unity, that gave birth to enjoyable and worthy Retro Prog record. With "The Sparrow" guys show their ability to stay conservative - but I doubt it would be better for them. Their best melodies and ideas were on "Starfooted" (that debut), and on "The Sparrow" we have the same melodies and ideas without a slight sign of re-work, re-make or something. Wearing out the very idea of Retro Prog, "The Sparrow" sounds cool, but only if it's your first Retro Prog album you ever experienced. Unfortunately, I found it rather dull despite the obvious melodic gift the band has. Most die-hard Retro-Prog aficionados that would kill for GG, KC, GENESIS or PF will find this one to be rather good, maybe even stunning. But sorry, not me. Recommended for Retro-Prog / Neo-Prog / Art-Rock / Symphonic Prog fans mostly

The singer really reminds me of Murray McLaughlin, a Folk singer from Canada. I can't say instrumentally that there are any highlights, no outbreaks, it's all fairly bland really.They used to be a GENESIS cover band which apparently is quite evident on the previous record "Starfooted", but no evidence of that here.

So if nothing else this is entertaining, even if the subject is death.