SOLAR PROJECT

I'll give 4,71 stars the beginning of the album didn't please me at all, But when I was going to turn the cd off the music started to get better and better (after 4 minutes of the 1st track), and I just loved the album

1. Time Part I (7:34) The beginning is quite borring, the bass sound too much elctronic, but at the 4:00 the hammond comes and makes the rest of the music very good

(3/5)

2. About time (4:43) The acoustic/electric guitar intro is just amazing, and I liked a lot of the people talking, very good track and a philosofical reflexion about what is time (5/5)

3. Crime Time (5:55) Perfect lyrics, awesome acoustic guitar intro, cool variations, a really remarkable music (5/5)

4. Time Out (7:12) Excelent music and lyrics (5/5)

5. Zeitgeist (6:01) Man, it reminds me focus and deep purple, with a kind of elp organ parts. It's not sooo prog, but is excelent, anyway (5/5)

6. to 11. Time To Die (27:08) I think it's better to listen to that, it's an excelent epic track wich deserves 5 stars (5/5)

12. Time Part II (8:15) Good ending for the album, finishing the idea of the first track, 5 stars too (5/5)

In the end, you get underwhelmed

Solar Project's latest album so far, Chromagnitude, can very well be one of the very solid projects the band has released in twenty years. In the meantime, any prog fan can acquire and even like the album, but chances are it will stop sounding so rich and interesting after some time. It has anyway no higher place than on the "good prog" shelves, but the fact that it can slip heavily, "progressively", isn't wonderful news. This is quite the mixed feeling (subjective-objective) I have after one year, and that's a bad sign for future listens too. There's plenty of music in this world that's completely un-everlasting without meaning it's not good music, but Chromagnitude seems to be, sadly, on the opposite side, impressing you well enough at first, but eventually turning very plat. My early notes on Solar Project's album were "There are funny, easy or wasted feelings put in this release, but not enough to kill the joy of listening to it. The vocals aren't fantastic, the concept of the titles or that presumably inside the vocals/music seem even weaker, but there's a load of (prog) rock, pictured in a complex, fiery or anyway deep manner. With seven pieces of different chromatics (yet not that varied music), Solar Project's latest is good." Now, however, I feel more underwhelmed than any other time before.

Sure, the middle part of that old note is still an "okay" characterization of how Chromagnitude sounds, but "the joy of listening it" is gone for good. A slice from the "enjoyable" quality dies out as well once a lot of "flaws" inside the pieces sting you during the listening process. One thing that's strange is that this latest record makes me wanna try some of the band's previous music, to see if the vocals were just a bad, compromising decision over here or overall. With just the lead female vocalist being changed, the unity of the group calls heavily upon the question: is Chromagnitude a concept-egg made out of brand new ideas, which should be therefore judged solely, or is it a step in the mud scaled to Solar Project's entire career?

Getting down to the analysis, a general scan is already enough to prove what was mentioned above: the "minuses" are too many and show up too often, hurting the listener's "feelings", while the "pluses" are outnumbered and don't keep Chromagnitude on an honorable spot. Starting positively, bracing for later: the album is a heavy work, showing some intelligent moments of production and composition and an even bigger mood for crossed-over nuances. In other words, as speculated way earlier, Chromagnitude shouldn't be considered a weak and insignificant project right from its blueprints. The errors appear "progressively". Right from the start, the brawny way of making and playing rock means the passion is on an upsetting inferior level. I simply can't feel the quintet being moved by its own creation (and during its own performance), their interpretation is moreover "calculated". Chromagnitude, a heavy "stone" as it is, lacks however the ingredient of a perfectly modeled creation - it's not about "polishing", it's about how interesting the music can sound. The concept isn't far from paying the price, despite the "journey into a world of colors and rock". Regarding the style, it's safe to say the album rolls in many directions, we can hear psychedelic-by-analogy (the analogy being, yes, Pink Floyd, or, when the song is lighter, David Gilmour), "crossover" (aka the mainstream added ingredient to prog), alternative rock/prog (I'm offering Porcupine Tree as a bit of example, but it's a superficial one) and metal (or, at least, the risky combo of heavy rock and metal). The vocals add a bit of "neo prog" flavor, the relief being that nothing falls on the "retro" side - except, instrumentally speaking, the organ comçi-comça melodies. Chromagnitude is in fact a modern work; but this closes in on the "originality" factor, which is low on the list of ingredients.

Taking the walkabout, we can say from the beginning that most of the pieces try a mixture of the abovementioned styles - or just loop the melodies or the flow of ideas - without that much care towards suturing tightly the cuts. Gray opens the show, its length being decent; it's the one piece that gives a distinct Floyd feeling, its richly guitar and trance-like intro doing such an audio-trick; not so lucky is the beat-builded vocal segment, climaxing in a dirty way, but falling back afterwards, by chance, to a sax final part, this being one of the good and beautiful moments on the album. Green lasts 15 minutes and punishes the listeners with a mix of "flaws" and just a solid rock improvisation in the middle part: lazy vocals, signs of metal bits, a bit unstable first part, and only afterwards a healthy prog improv, including the very-likely-to-be-acclaimed organ. Red's dynamic is nice, but also directs things into alternative prog, the vocals regressing to neo or pop. The middle-part vocal dialogue is simply NASTY. Black is the one piece Chromagnitude worths its penny for: a moderate Camel-like intro, preparing a kick-off into feisty, positively charged and carefully mixed nerves of psych, organ prog, heavy (bass/guitar) rock and other stuff. Blue is Gilmour-ish, the sax is back with some nice effects, the vocals return to some unusual melodies and the slow-pace indulges the pop feeling. Yellow hasn't got anything special, keeping the keys a chord higher so to create a seemingly psych trance for another roll of lyrics with a fuzzy tone. White is a piece in which you can feel the concept, some rhythms and motives are orderly repeated and the final choice of vocals is "neo"-ish; alas, with a bit of tension and a lot of fusion, the piece chills down to nothing.

In the end, I must say the review seems just too filled with pessimistic notes as to allow a 3-stars final rate, even if the work has its bit of interestingness, some instrumental rockin' pays off and prog standards exist throughout - mostly through improvisational impulses. The word for Chromagnitude is "okay, but terribly non-essential". Fans will surely dig it, but overall it doesn't remain remarkable in the modern chapters of prog rock.

This is a German band , their debut CD The Final Solution was released in 1989 so you can conclude that Solar Project is making prog for almost twenty years!

This new CD (their sixth studio album) contains 7 compostions that sound simply structured but very tasteful coloured by guitar and especially keyboards, the Hammond organ work often evokes Manfred Wieczorke his work in early Eloy. The guitarplay has obvious hints of David Gilmour, especially in the opener Gray (also delicate saxophone solo and omnipresent organ sound) and Black (alternating with very compelling organ work). My highlight is the long track Green (more than 15 minutes) featuring lots of shifting moods and very pleasant work on guitar (from heavy riffs and sensitive play to a captivating psychedelic solo and a fine duet with the organ) and kebyoards (from soaring synthesizers and compelling Hammond sounds to frequent eruptions on the choir-Mellotron. Halfway the climate turns into psychedelic like Pink Floyd At Pompeii. The final part delivers fat guitar riffs and fiery guitar runs. The vocals are often duo, a combination of male and female, it sound pleasant but the lyrics are very simple. At some moments the music reminds me of the first Epidaurus album, also from Germany but rooted in the Seventies.

This is not music with refinement, tension, inventive ideas or awesome skills but if you like early Eloy or more psychedelic pInk Floyd, this is a CD to discover.

www.progwalhalla.com

In This album, Solar Project reach the style pefection, Bettina Wirtz in vocals.. an excelent rol, and the keyboards and acoustic guitar of Roibert Valet gives the very high rate to this album.

Best suggested Pieces: - Thunderstorm part 6 - Force Majeure Part 2 WOW!!! a luxury begin with the Robert Valet Keyborards - Force Majeure 4 the best part of all album (perfect!!)

Influences: Pink Floyd of Roger Waters age, Eulenspygel, Keith Emerson.

SOLAR PROJECT is a German Symphonic Rock band, which was formed in 1988 out of the ashes from a band called SOLAR SYSTEM. Their first album "The Final Solution" was released in 1990 and since then they have recorded three more albums and "Five" is, like the name says, their fifth album. This is the first album I have heard from the band. "Five" is a complex concept album about the four elements and the fifth one. The music is very 70's and 80's sounding with some reminiscences to DJAM KARET and PINK FLOYD. There's a lot of variation, from slowly progressing, dreamy psychedelic, to powerful complex progressive outbursts. I get a somewhat shattered impression, maybe because of the many different musicians and vocalists who contribute to this album. Some of the keyboard sounds feels a little bit dated too. Especially the typical 80's sounding ones! But all in all this is a nice album with many exciting moments.