PURE REASON REVOLUTION

'Interlude 3' and 'Worship' side again, creamy vocals; the intensity will grow on an electric crescendo, a tribal groove and the devastating organ. Jon screams, the words spurt out, the progressive atmosphere at its peak, between explosive prog and proggy punk creating a metallic tension worthy of the Smashing Pumpkins in the style of Depeche; fabulous. 'Interlude 4' and 'Bend the Earth' on Ravi's electronic pad to return to a calm pop ballad, a paradigm between softness and explosive containment; latency with Guy's expressive bass that makes you want to dance. The prog changes with this magnificent guitar solo not to be missed before the syncopated electro finale promoting trance. Then comes 'Lifeless Creature' with a linear ambient rhythm; moment of doubt, introspection, anguish; moment of bliss with Annicke hynotic and languorous, progressive. Dantesque finale with a pad-synth sticking to the ears; distressing with Jon on a dramatic coda. 'Interlude 5' longer, leaning towards Japan, brings 'As We Disappear' to the explicit title; alkaline piano à la Muse, whispered, barked vocals. The string finale to meditate and overcome these melancholic moments when doubt overwhelms us; the slide guitar helps us by crying to work on expiation. Title of Jill Tegan Doherty's album as proof of Love for her dog.

Pure Reason Revolution is an innovative, devastating fusion; modern progressive rock, emotion following the death of Jon's dog. An innovative sound with the vocal duo, the proggy sound, energetic and rhythmic. Dreamy prog synth, catalyst, on Talk Talk pop and the soaring Floyds. Heavy, soft and tonic melodies. A musical magma lighter than its two predecessors embellished with interludes making it enter the concept album. originally on Progcensor.(4.5)

1. "Prelude: Coming Up to Consciousness" (0:32) 2. "Dig Till You Die" (4:36) though there is a lot that sounds too borrowed from the band's debut album (specifically the pattern and sound palette of the rhythm foundation), there is enough wonderful stuff here to make this a wonderful listening experience. Vocal is too compressed. The bass, too. I love the intro. (8.875/10)

3. "Interlude 1" (0:23) 4. "Betrayal" (4:05) some nice elements that don't quite gel. (8.75/10)

5. "The Gallows" (4:36) great bass playing, great sound palette, and nice melodies--especially in the ear-candy-themed second half. A mature, well-developed, complete-feeling song. A top three song. (9.25/10)

6. "Interlude 2" (0:21) 7. "Useless Animal" (3:56) great lush vocal arrangements to some rather lackluster lyrics. A pretty solid, complete- feeling song. (8.875/10)

8. "Interlude 3" (0:12) 9. "Worship" (5:02) opens fronted some simple guitar chords being arpeggiated while Jon sings. Annicke gets some appearance time before the full band kicks in at 1:13. The band's old pedal steel guitar's presence is nice. Again, the main fault with this song is in its leaning back on old patterns, sounds, riffs, and themes. (8.75/10)

10. "Interlude 4" (0:17) 11. "Bend the Earth" (6:19) a song that feels like the most original content on the album: palette (that unusual bass sound and programmed drum sequence), chords, structure, flow, rhythm patterns--everything except the chorus motif feels new and refreshing. (9/10)

12. "Lifeless Creature" (6:10) tension filled piano arpeggios open this one before Jon enters positing an-almost whispered vocal. Then synth bass, syncopated drum machine pattern, and other tension- and atmosphere-building effects enter, creating a very interesting and highly original motif to which Jon and Annicke add much magical vocal work. After the singing is done around the 3:50 mark the tension just builds and builds. This is awesome! Love the deep bass thrums. At 5:00 the tension bursts and we come back to Jon's guitar-supported vocal--which is then joined by the full ensemble to the song's finish. The most interesting and, perhaps, the best song on the album. A top three, to be sure. (9/10)

13. "Interlude 5" (0:38) like a hundred distorted accordions recorded and somehow warped in the taping process. (My favorite interlude.) 14. "As We Disappear" (4:49) another delightfully unique and unusual song with treated piano, bass, gently arpeggiated electric guitar, atmospheric synths, Jon's voice with Annicke's wonderful harmony support. Drums kick in around the two-minute mark. That distinctive piano, however, is the main attention-getter for me. My final top three song. (9.125/10)

Total Time 41:56

Note: Only the digital versions of the album have short interludes included as separate tracks. The physical issues don't list interludes as separate tracks, but instead incorporate them into the tracks occurring either before or after them.

While I loved Chlo' Alper on The Dark Third, I never thought she was given enough of the spotlight after PRR's first album. The role and prominence given to Jon's new female counterpart, Annicke Shireen, is wonderful--and quite welcome--as Chlo''s strong presence on The Dark Third is one of the reasons I fell in love with the band, music, album. The vocal arrangements, however, too often fall into the realm of "syrupy" and/or "overdone." The bass contributions are also quite welcome; nice, smooth and confident bass makes such a difference. I only wish I could find out who is performing them: which performances come from legendary journeyman Gary Pratt and which from Bruce Soord's sidekick.

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of crossover prog; an album that I really enjoy and so want to promote as a five-star masterpiece but it just falls short: so many very enjoyable songs just fall short. Highly recommended: decide for yourselves!

From the opening moments of "Dig till You Die", the Rubicon is crossed with suave melodies, dreamy keyboards, a rhythmic undertow that elevates the vocal interplay between Jon and Annike, slashed by a brief raunchy guitar barrage before diving back into tranquility and an obvious elevation of tension that really sets the mood for loving this album. The main theme on "Betrayal" is immediately addictive, especially in the way Jon uses his higher pitch to blend majestically with Annike's counterpoint, slowly lowering or raising the pressure with effortless zeal, a looping bass highlighting the duplicity as the arrangement soars elegantly into the heavens. This is simply sublime, by any musical standard one wishes to apply. The pleasure continues on the primarily breezy "The Gallows", a shimmering piano-led vocal tour de force that arrives at a seemingly psychedelic soundscape with sunny slide guitars painting the sparse clouds, the instrumental outro all about rhythmic groove and restraint. The mood gets a bit exalted on "Useless Animal", the massed harmony voices blending delightfully, as the pace picks up in energy, transitions galore from soft to harder edged raging buzz sawing guitars that are being challenging by churning organ salvos, and a stop on a dime ending.

The second part of this album only gets even better, as if that was even possible, as "Worship" raises the level even more with a brilliant guitar swoop, amid the master-class vocal performances, that endlessly astound. One can easily detect the Porcupine Tree/Pineapple Thief influences, as the scorching phosphorescent guitar sears with utter disdain for the consequences, the tectonic drumming bullying forward unfazed, until the arrangement flutters away in vocal hallucinations. The next two tracks are similarly sized in the 6 minute + mark, thus offering a core dozen minutes of impressive continuation, the 'ooh-ing' voices slaying any attempt at pushback, the crucifying 'Sacred Lovers' chorus being just gorgeous on the superb "Bend the Earth". The guitar solo is egged on by the rhythm locomotive, a fantastic tone to boot as it carves across a colossal keyboard backdrop, adding all the symphonic glitter one could hope for. The electronic e-piano/synth outro is off the charts. This segues perfectly with another killer number, the celestial "Lifeless Creature", a more ponderous infusion of vocal-fuelled psychedelia, both voices flirting with the sublime, Annike leading here with Jon right behind, a masterclass from the microphone crew. The final half has a sense of doom attached to the cyclic beat, veering towards a twisted repetition of the title until the final breath has announced mortality. The final cut (no not that one!), "As We Disappear" securely waves a fond farewell to all the preceding melodies as the horizon seeks to swallow up all our memories, in search of the perennial new beginning. As such, all those precious elements that make up PRR are plainly maintained, surely a bright and prosperous future for this stodgily determined band, as it continues to forge ahead in its craft. Extremely enjoyable album!

5 Raising perceptions

BUT - I am flipping out over this Coming Up To Consciousness by Pure Reason Revolution.

This is superb art. A homogeneous, natural blend of slight new wave (think a smoother XTC) / newer prog (Pineapple Thief) and yet nice and heavy at times (Dredge), all in one beautifully recorded and produced release. And, all still very original. For me the highlight is "Lifeless Creature" - as it's very powerful, ethereal and poignant.

On top of all of this gushing of mine is: It's in a wonderfully mature surround mix, and up to all of the better surround mix releases.

Thank you Pure Reason Revolution for getting a veteran of the scene, excited once again with this wonderfully crafted project. Bravo, indeed!

It all sort of went downhill from there until as a duo Chloe and Jon record "Eupnea" with a guest drummer, so really a trio. A far cry. And this isn't "The Dark Third" part two by any means, this is nothing like it. Yes lots of vocals and as a piece of work this is very well done it's just not music I'm really into, I don't want to listen to this. The cover art is terrible. Taken from a painting I just don't get it.

So we get about 48 minutes of music over six tracks with the self titled closer being the epic at 13 1/2 minutes. And it is interesting that the vocals on it brought "The Dark Third" to mind briefly a couple of times. The opening vocals melodies don't though even if it is a focus on that harmony-like style this is just different. It's Chloe singing later that brought the debut to mind. A very proggy track regardless and one of the best ones. I really have a hard time with "Maelstrom" just too lightweight and sweet at times.

And that's what I find myself thinking with each track there's stuff I like and things I don't and overall each track is okay. I do like the heaviness they bring as well but for some reason I'm digging the vocals this time. Not a four star record in my world but I will continue to enjoy "The Dark Third" so thanks for that amazing debut.

Now for Amor Vincit Omnia, the band diverted their sound away from their more central space rock prog routes with The Dark Third, in favor for a more overtly electronic alt rock sound that was starting to gain some notoriety with groups like Muse and Thirty Seconds To Mars using similar beats at the time, which, to be frankly honest, is not quite a bad change. It certainly isn't a preferred change to me, but I definitely am not opposed to the idea of bands changing their sounds to be a bit more commercial. I praised The Mars Volta's self-titled record despite them not having a prog sound in that album, and I really like some 80s Genesis and Yes tunes.

So, that being said, why do I think PRR does not really do a good job with the different cards they are playing with here? I say it is mostly due to it feeling a little shallow in its waters. I definitely say they do a decent job at this whole synth pop sound quite well, especially in Chloe Alper's keyboards, and the mixed male and female vocals that work just as well as they did on The Dark Third. But overall I feel like they are not playing to their fullest in this new environment. They definitely got better with Hammer And Anvil, but I think they reel back the punches just so much that they start to sound less like PRR and more like Muse copycats.

Now I will say, when the songs do hit, they are pretty great. Apogee / Requiem For The Lovers, Deus Ex Machina, and The Gloaming are really good electro alt songs that have that nice PRR energy, with those crisp guitars, synths, and artsy space rock flairs that make revisiting this album worth it. I also think, while the output is lackluster for the most part, it is not bad. For what the band achieves, there is no song on here that I felt was totally bad, or just skippable. In fact I like all the songs on here since I think the output they have here is pretty serviceable. This is far from a totally great record, but it is also away from a totally bad record.

I think the best, and last thing I have to say about this record is that it is decent. It is neither bad nor good, and when it works, it works like a charm, but when it doesn't it definitely feels like a bump to PRR's road. If you want to check out PRR, I suggest going for this last. I doubt you'll get super disappointed hearing it, but I can assure you that you won't find the best experience for this band with this one.

If we start to analyze each of the instruments we will realize its formal simplicity. starting with the guitars that build the songs from small licks, and dense riffs -close to the heaviest porcupine tree- that give the impression of having been created from the same notes; easy bass lines and easily recognizable drum beats; and finally the pop harmonies and vocal lines reminiscent of the Beach Boys. All this adorned with electronic sounds and small keyboard appearances.

It is only when the band puts all these elements together, playing and experimenting with the different distortions, sound effects and other production elements, that we can witness their talent and creativity. The record would lose steam without the deep echoes of the drums or the different layers and tuning tones of the guitars. In addition to the interesting harmonic games of the masculine-feminine voices that, on the other hand, fulfill the melodic function in the disc and therefore of greater identification.

Interesting proposal from a band that seeks to experiment and extend certain limits while still sounding pop and accessible. They will certainly have to be tracked down.

This album is well crafted by great musicians. There will certainly be an audience for it. I'm not one of these people.

It all feels flat, much like an AOR version of previous bands. And it's all so predictable. I gave it multiple listens, but the enjoyment did certainly not increase.

2 stars from me. There certainly will be fans for this.

'Our Prism' starts heavy with tribal pads and vibrating synth, nervous/spoken vocals, screaming and a changing tempo, modern electro psychedelic metal and innovative heavy riff. 'New Kind of Evil' change of sound with a melancholy atmospheric title; soft piano and explosion of synthetic sounds for a time then fusion of the two; Jon's voice wants to be moving and nervous in function, this hybrid side like a Tesla propels us from one to the other without time for reflection, a giant post-apocalyptic finale. 'Phantoms' for a radio edit heard in Paris, electro-disco atmosphere with airy Bowie voice, on an overboosted NEW ORDER, a darker DEPECHE MODE with progressive synth lines in the middle; supercharged post-electro; the final bass sends heavy, becomes hovering, prog and continues on 'Cruel Deliverance' post alternative tendency, mixed vocals for a dreamy relaxing title; it goes up on an atmosphere where the bass and the organ à la PINK FLOYD tumble on a solo worthy of a lively PARADISE LOST, always a spoken finale worked and...

'Scream Sideways' follows with 10 minutes of angelic bliss; choirs, piano for the solemn instrumental intro, rhythmic and complex breaks, experimental composition confirming the progressive side, a little on the orchestrations of ALAN PARSONS and SMASHING PUMPKINS; it's divine, oriental, tribal, electro, à la MOTORPSYCHO that I love; it rises in fusion on a NINE INCH NAILS, PINK FLOYD's 'Echoes' break, funky vocals for an incredible time then dark atmosphere, crystalline piano and choirs again before the explosive finale in 380 volts. 'Dead Butterfly' takes us back down, mixed choirs of three voices on a piano, the imprint of a PORCUPINE TREE emerges here but it's PRR much louder, more crazy and Jon leaves to sing on Billy's voice Corgan, sumptuous; distorted, aggressive, boosted sound, between light and dark, unhealthy and tribal, enjoyable what, the ultimate title leading to 'Lucid' melancholy melody where the dark combines with the light, where the voice mixes pleasantly with the instruments and backing vocals with the bewitching Chloë; condensed piece of electro rock art that PRR takes to the sky; the 2nd third rises, breaks, starts again, starts again in a divine way with continuous changes of the tempo. PURE REASON REVOLUTION released a short album with chained titles, a good point. PRR has mixed the substantial musical marrow of the metal, synth, electro and progressive sound that all progians dream of hearing... A dark, innovative, devastating fusion associated with clear music from which each note vibrates in your interior relentlessly.

I'm a huge fan of Pure Reason Revolution and I've seen them live a couple of times. I like supporting the bands that I enjoy listening to and it made me sad to hear of their break-up after their third album. I was very happy to hear they'd regroup and record another album a few years later, even if my expectations were low due to the quality of their third album. However, they pulled out all the stops and released Eupnea, which I loved. It was lovely hearing PRR successfully recapture the essence of The Dark Third and push it.

On the other hand, we have Above Cirrus. The album is a swing and a miss and there's very little to recommend here. Annoyingly, PRR seem to be, once again, trying to gain ground in the alt-rock scene instead of sitting comfortably where they excel - the prog-rock scene.

The album is plagued with half-baked ideas that should've been fleshed out or at least injected with a little more passion. There are very few memorable riffs or vocal harmonies, and the sound textures and instrumental sections are dull.

PRR has the bad habit of burying good or even excellent riffs under noise or bad production, which is evident in Our Prism. What's wrong with crystal-clear, heart-stopping riffs?

New Kind of Evil is mid-tempo for most of the song and it drags on for a while. This is another feature of this album - songs that should've been shorter have been elongated, but since there's no actual content there it just feels like the song never ends.

Phantoms is another bad decision. PRR have tried the pure techno thing a few times and it rarely works. In fact, it's one of the reasons for their downfall upon release of their third album. Give this pure techno stuff up already, a whole song of it doesn't work with your fan base.

All I have to say about Cruel Deliverance is that it is exactly like New Kind of Evil - boring and overlong.

Scream Sideways is the one song on this album that I like. It's got an interesting structure and some cool sound textures. The breaks are also very cool. That funky and spaced-out section is my favorite thing on this album. Having said that, it's not as fleshed-out as it should be and ends abruptly. I wanted more!

Lucid has some cool moments, but nothing to write home about.

On the whole, it seems this album needed to sit in the oven for a little longer before recording began and it does seem like PRR needed to put a little bit more passion into it. Better riffs, catchier vocal harmonies and lines, and funner instrumental breaks filled with content would've definitely helped. Here's hoping the next one will hark back to The Dark Third/Eupnea again.