MOTORPSYCHO

"The Death Defying Unicorn" is the 14th full-length studio album by Norwegian rock act Motorpsycho. The album was released through Stickman Records/Rune Grammofon in February 2012. It´s a collaborative release between Motorpsycho and Ståle Storløkken. The latter plays keyboards on the album and has arranged the tracks along with the group. He is also responsible for arranging the parts of the album played by Trondheimsolistene and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. "The Death Defying Unicorn" was released on double CD and double 12" vinyl.

The music on the album is quite the eclectic mix of psychadelic, stoner/hard and progressive rock spiced up with some avant garde type jazz/chamber orchestra moments (and some more symphonic ones too). At times the avant garde element reminds me of The Mothers of Invention. There is also a cinematic/theatrical element to the music, which is probably due to this being a concept album, and to build a dramatic atmosphere to go along with the lyrics (which are a fairytale at sea of sorts), the band have opted to include that element too. The band themselves are as always well playing and their jamming type rock, which owes a big depth to both 60s psychadelic rock and 70s hard rock, and on this particular album also to 70s progressive rock (vintage keyboards and flutes are some of the elements), works like a charm. A heavy bass, fuzzy guitars and (mostly) laid back mellow vocals are the foundation of the music. All the other elements are layered on top of that. Sometimes, like in some parts of the 16:01 minutes long "Through The Veil", in a multi-layered chaotic fashion.

A track like "Into the Gyre", with it´s mellow first couple of minutes and heavier and busier last couple of minutes, is an obvious highlight to my ears, but there are brilliant moments popping up throughout the album. Tracks like "The Hollow Lands", the above mentioned "Through The Veil", the energetic "Mutiny!" and the closing "Into the Mystic" are standout tracks too. I could have done without some of the most ambient and slow building tracks, but that´s probably an aquired taste.

The sound production is warm, organic and detailed, suiting the music perfectly. Overall "The Death Defying Unicorn" is a very adventurous album by Motorpsycho. It´s admirable how an act that have been around for about 25 years are still branching out and trying new things. This is by far their most progressive release yet and while there are several nods toward 70s prog and other vintage rock styles, this doesn´t sound like a clone of anything. Motorpsycho are unique. At 83:44 minutes, "The Death Defying Unicorn" is a pretty long album and if the band had left out some of the more atmosphere enhancing ambient tracks like "Doldrums", "Flotsam", "Sculls in Limbo" and "La Lethe" I feel the album would still have been a long but much stronger one disc album. In it´s current for there are though still enough quality material to warrant a 4 star (80%) rating.

I have to admit that there is very little I like about this album; I don't get the album art .. the band name smacks of an imitation and the album title comes across as OTT pretentious.

I don't even like the predominant musical style, but I still recommend this album as an absolute 5-star, shining example of what IMO "prog" should be like in 2012.

To me, "prog" implies progressing, that is venturing from Point A to Point B to Point C, as opposed to carefully trotting around Point B in order not to disappoint the Point B - worshiping crowd. My, The Unicorn is certain a journey, taking us to the Points X, Y and Z that I am not sure I have dreamed of before.

By the way, there is almost "too much" musical content in The Unicorn. Looking at the 2012- early 2013 crop of high-ranking novelties by the great bands, I have to say that you can take the musical substance that went into the creation of Unicorn and make out of it The Raven, Storm Corrosion, a good chunk of Viljans Öga, and there still will be enough material left for a couple of ambient and movie soundtrack albums.

All in all, if you are interested in investing 84 minutes of your time into listening to a very demanding (and equally rewarding) piece of music, The Unicorn may be a good choice.

7/10

Perfectly Structured Delirium.

"The Death Defying Unicorn" is a collaborative studio album between Norwegian Alternative Rock/Progressive Rock band Motorpsycho and Staale Storlokken, a known Jazz composer also from Norway, accompanied by the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. It is Motorpsycho's fifteenth album, and their first collaboration with Storlokken. The final concept and idea they were able to craft is very original; Once again, the band turns towards a different direction from their previous works (it is a blueprint of theirs in fact to be shifting sound continuously, despite always holding the same roots firmly) in a positive and exciting way.

There is a lot of Motorpsycho here for sure: the same exuberance is felt, especially in the vocals, and the songwriting is still somewhat Alternative Rock oriented. However, the arrangements the music surrounds itself in are much more similar to Jazz and Progressive Rock, because of the overwhelming amount of horns and strings that seem to be the predominant characteristic of the entire album. There are still the electric guitar bursts and acoustic verses, but when they happen they don't feel as strong or peculiar as the orchestral instrumentation.

With this in mind, the band decided to go with mainly two kind of songs: the fast-paced, delirious ones, that often are longer and include an improvisation/Jam section, while the calmer songs are carefully executed and orchestrated. These two kind of songs are really the only material this album has going for, but it's feels like a self-sufficient formula anyway, despite the length of the album ( one hour and twenty minutes, divided up in thirteen tracks), which should suggest a bit more variety in terms of mood. But letting the album flow as it is, It's admirable how only two types of songs intertwine with each other so elegantly, and shift moods with such a carefully studied pace. The emotional ups and downs of the album being so spread out throughout the 80 minutes of its length is almost promoting the feeling that the listener may gladly loose himself in the midst of it, without losing too much. It's more about the entire work, basically, than the individual songs, which gives "The Death Defying Unicorn" the feeling that it's kind of like concept album, like a bizarre opera.

Although there could have been not only a little more variety in the instrumentation, but also in the songwriting (a lot of the songs sound pretty similar to one another), Motorpsycho's release is another triumph of their vast discography, and a decent follow-up to the great album that was "Heavy Metal Fruit". Motorpsycho is a band that ever since the nineties has done music, and has never been afraid to experiment with new things, and it seems they haven't lost this habit of theirs. Hopefully, material will be coming out of the studio consistently after this.

This was considered one of the great albums of this year. I heartily do not agree. Of course, Motorpsycho is a very talented and versatile band with loads of great ideas and wonderful arrangements, also edges and innovational approaches etc. etc. But, and this is a big But (no pun here, guys! ;-) ), the Unicorn suffers a lot from them simply quoting their references. Of course, the title suggests a retrospective album and could be taken as a metaphor of the renaissance ot the artrock genre, and hence a certain amount of referentiality can be expected and justified. Yet, there are quite a lot of cases, in which there should have been a more subtle approach in that direction, a more sophisticated and thoughtful and thorough reworking of those great predecessors - to achieve something that goes beyond pure retrospection. No, this is certainly not a bad album, but it does not at all meet the potential inherent in the approach.

My favorite album of 2012. The instrumentation is really impressive and Kenneth Kapstad has grown to be one of my favorite drummers of the newer generation. The concept is quite silly but also intriguing, and the music reflects the lyrics really well. My favorite songs are (in chronological order) Into the Mystic, Through the Veil and La Lethe. The saxophone solo in the latter is stunning and sends chills down my spine. I think that the orchestras blend in perfectly with the band and St'le Storl'kkens arrangements are really good. Some people may find that the second side contain some fillers, but I feel that it is a really good build up for the finale. A 5/5 album without a doubt. I was also lucky to experience the whole album live in the Norwegian Opera in Oslo, which was a terrific experience.

10/10

I believe the sound offered by Motorpsycho this album is unlike anything you may have already appeared on earth, at least that's ever reached my ears. How to sort this epic album? Jazz-fusion? Hard-rock/stoner rock? Psychedelic Rock? Orchestral music? Avant- garde? Or was it all together? I think the ultimate answer is most likely, and even then may not be enough to explain what we hear in The Death Defying Unicorn.

But this is a masterpiece of value indelible.

I believe that a good concept album should be able to give the listener an experience extrasensory regarding its unifying theme, still mis when it comes to a story. And here is what this does. You see, my English is bad, I understand very little of what is sung, but the music here ... makes me feel really watching the journey of the characters, perfectly conveys the feelings, the emotions, the proposal fits the album. You can say that all musical works with a concept of history can it? It's like a soundtrack, but at the same time is much more than that.

Wonderful to know that the orchestra, often relegated to the background in rock albums, emerges here as a kind of "member" of the band, earning the right to appear on the cover. Dude, a jazz orchestra! If you combine two of my favorite genres, then won my heart. The opening, Out of the Woods, opens with a keen clarinet, brass and strings before emerging to create a delightful atmosphere - 100% orchestral. Connects directly to The Hollow Lands, which takes the place of "overture" album - after all, many of the themes presented here will be repeated throughout the album. A great song, with a stunning opening cacophonic and a powerful distorted guitar solo.

Next up is the epic of the album, Through the Veil. Opening with metals through dissonant (I really love the first few seconds of this song), she grows up bass, guitar and drums come conforça, adding more richness to the melody. The vocals, as in almost everything else on the album are quite aligned, split between bassist Bent Sæther and guitarist Hans Magnus Ryan. Best part of the song starts at 5:50, where the orchestra and the band members play a powerful instrumental section, chaotic (interrupted by a brief section in the eighth minute of what I believe is a bassoon), but the music back to its theme principal, and the last few minutes are a strange lull before she end up with an ethereal organ (courtesy of Staale Storløkken, who still plays mellotron and synthesizer brilliantly), which connects to the first of the instrumental interludes, doldrums, which is basically a short passage with the bassoon and other wind instruments and string.

Into The Gyre is another epic song. Opening with the theme of violins that ended The Hollow Lands, emulating a mellotron flute, vocals nicely quiet with a beautiful chorus. Then the music begins to grow with violins before exploding in a bright jazzy section, with sharp guitars and powerful orchestration. The music calms down, with mellotron solo being played again before closing. His last two minutes is a section ambient / ethereal quite relaxing, with the woodwinds almost inaudible. It follows Flotsam, another interlude, which is basically a solo viola (a viola or violin? Believe the sound of a viola is less acute ...)

Oh Proteus - A Prayer opens the second disc, and there's only one word to describe this song: masterful. Vocals dark, darker orchestration, but the central theme is quite bombastic, and the last few minutes are great (I quite like the guitar riff played in the background). Sculls in Limbo is the most unnecessary of interludes, seems just a bit of white noise or other sound annoying. I do not know what it represents in the story, although an orchestral passage had been masi interesting. La Lethe is a beautiful instrumental, orchestral jazz basically, so to speak, with a growing and attenuating a beautiful saxophone solo accompanying the orchestra, connecting to Oh Proteus - The Lament, the last and smallest of interludes, though here there voice - the melody is the same as its sister song, although I'm not complaining.

Follows up on Sharks, and this is a very strange song, though perfectly reflects what I said about the musicality reflect the story. Two-thirds of the music are quite calm, soothing vocals and orchestrations, you really feel at sea with the sailors. Then five minutes the music becomes surprisingly scary, evil organ accompanies the orchestra and the vocals become more dire that. When the music looks like it will explode in your ears it ends. But then begins Mutiny, and get ready! This song is an incredibly energetic, pure hard rock (I swear that the theme of the first half of the instrumental section is equal to that of Changes, of Yes). She never stops, with vocal and instrumental brilhates better. ends in a profound serenity, with the theme of violins and The Hollow Lands Into The Gyre being repeated once more before going pro epic final, Into the Mystic. A long opening section led by violin lasts for more than two minutes before the vocals come in, with the same melody of The Hollow Lands. The music calms down, and after brief vocal lightweight entered a powerful instrumental section guided by the sound of flute mellotron and synthesizers, while the orchestra makes its role. The song then ends with its main theme played again, this time in another key, and BAM! It is the end.

Majestic. Magnificent. Different. Epic. The Death Defying Unicorn is without a doubt one of the best albums of a year so good for rock porgressivo. A genuine piece prog. 5 stars, nothing less.

After being disappointed with their previous album "Heavy Metal Fruit" I really had no intention of getting this. Enter Todd who sent me an audio clip and I was sold. Now i'm not a big fan of double albums or concept albums but this double concept recording is incredible. Just to be clear there are always exceptions to the norm as I do have some amazing double albums and concept records, and i'd certainly include this with those. The story here is about a young man who gets caught poaching and his punishment is to be sent off in a ship which turns out to be worse than death. Lots of orchestration in this one too and i'm not usually into that but again they make it work perfectly. Easy to see why this made the Collaborator's top five for 2012. This is a very cinematic recording that really does take you on a journey. The TRONDHEIM JAZZ ORCHESTRA is fantastic and I like the heavy sections as well. Also there is a seventies vibe with those flute / mellotron-like sounds.

Disc one starts off with "Out Of The Woods" which is just over 2 1/2 minutes of experimentation as the horns and other sounds come and go. It's very orchestral later on here in this intro track. Guitar late as it blends into "The Hollow Lands" and drums also join in in this intense piece. It settles after 2 minutes and we get vocals for the first time. There's those mellotron flute-like sounds. It builds with growly bass and pounding drums as the vocals become more passionate. Man this is so good. Excellent instrumental section after 3 1/2 minutes too. Check out the raw guitar here. Vocals are back around 6 minutes. This has to be a top three track. "Through The Veil" opens with strange sounds like percussion really and some horns honking. This is the 16 minute epic of the first disc. It kicks in just before 2 minutes. Hell yeah it does ! Vocals follow and they sound great. We get an instrumental section before 4 minutes with horns, violin, drums and more. Vocals are back a minute later. A change before 6 minutes and this is catchy and instrumental. A calm before 9 minutes but it doesn't last long. Vocals and that ealier sound return 10 1/2 minutes in. A calm 2 minutes later with some interesting vocals. It kicks in again a minute later before settling back again with some cool guitar expressions. "Doldrums" begins with orchestration that is laid back but not for long. This sounds really good like a soundtrack for a movie. "Into The Gyre" opens with strings. The vocals a minute in are reserved. It starts to build 4 minutes in until they are kicking it hard. The guitar is on fire before 6 1/2 minutes ! This insanity lasts for a minute then we get a calm. Organ joins in late followed by some haunting atmosphere. "Flotsam" is the 1 1/2 minute conclusion to disc one and it's a melancholic, helpless sounding way to end it.

Disc two starts with "Oh, Proteus-A Prayer". More melancholy as the vocals come in singing "All is broken...our ship has sunk in the deep forever". This is sad with violins. It then sounds like a horror movie before 3 minutes as the vocals stop briefly. They return with more passion including louder orchestration. "Skulls In Limbo" is a short piece that is haunting throughout. It blends into "La Lethe". It starts to build some until it becomes powerful before 2 minutes and continues throughout. "Oh, Proteus-A Lament" is only a minute long and it's where the vocals return with lots of orchestration. "Sharks" has these fragile vocals as he describes the futility of his situation. Death is near. Some bombast before 6 minutes to the end. "Mutiny !" hits the ground running with the vocals and drums standing out but there is a full sound here. Man this is such a great track. A calm before 8 minutes to the end. "Into The Mystic" ends the album in style. A nice heavy intro as the guitar cries out. So good ! The violin is slicing it up. Vocals join in before 2 1/2 minutes. Love when it calms down with mellotron-like flute 3 1/2 minutes in. It picks back up with vocals. The last three minutes are instrumental.A top three track.

I am just so impressed with this recording. This is what Prog is all about and these guys have nailed it with "The Death Defying Unicorn". In my top five for 2012.

In their endless pursuit to keep trying new things and taking on impossible challenges, Motorpsycho reinvented themselves for the umpteenth time. They teamed up with Stale Storlokken's jazz orchestra to deliver nothing less then an 80 minute double CD filled with catchy alt rock, psychedellica, stoner rock, prog, jazz and a film score to match. Yihaa!

A first thing to note is how well the orchestra blends in. The words 'orchestra' and 'rock album' in one and the same sentence usually send shivers down my spine, not here. The approach is quite unique with orchestral parts that somehow cross over between Prokofiev's 'Peter and the Wolf' and a steaming jazz-brass band (think Jagga Jazzist for instance). The orchestral score mixes perfectly with Motorpsycho's stoner prog. The result is dense, over the top, bombastic and completely out there, but man this orchestra rocks!

The album relies less on Motorpsycho's trademark Sabbath-y riffs. They are still there, but take second place behind the rich orchestral texture and spacey effects. 'The Hollow Lands' is a brilliant example. Some subtle flutes and acoustic guitars add to the Prog feel of the album, which is without doubt their proggiest effort so far. If that point needed further proof then the 16 minute 'Through the Veil' amply delivers as it jams out into a barely contained chaos. 'Doldrums' - 'Into the Gyre' offer some welcome calm after the 25 minute opening storm and conclude an excellent first disk.

On CD2, the calm continues for a while till 'Proteus' catches a groove around minute 4. At this point I would expect the album to look for some kind of closure but it simply keeps going, and not in the right direction as far as I'm concerned. 'Sculls in Limbo' is a fine 2 minute orchestral interlude but this far into the album it simply lulls me in limbo. The slow pace of instrumental 'La Lethe' can't wake me up neither. If anything, these tracks fulfill a self-prophecy, making me feel very close to meeting the eternal sleep indeed. 'Mutiny' is our wake-up call and delivers what Motorpsycho excel at: rock. 'Into the Mystic' reprises the riffs and melodies of the opening track. Nice but not really needed after 80 minutes. We got the idea already.

Adding an orchestra into the rock mold and not ending up being cheesy is worth an award by itself. On top the album boasts quite a number of stellar tracks. But the total listening experience suffers from lengthiness and is a letdown. For me this album takes quite some weeding in it's 3rd quarter ('Lamb Lies Down on Broadway' syndrome?). Great work but I'd rate this one quite below my favorites 'Trust Us', 'In The Fishtank' or 'Heavy Metal Fruit'. Just a bit less would have been a whole lot more. 3.5+

A masterpiece album of 2012.

Motorpsycho has become somewhat of a cult hit around the prog community of late hailed by many respective reviewers and collabs as album of the year so I had to indulge. Before I approached the album I had no idea what to expect, though I had heard one track on a Prog mag compilation sampler and loved that. So I put on the headphones one dark evening after midnight and let the music immerse my soul. I think I was lifted into another plane of existence as the music simply nailed me to the couch with its inexorable power. The opening hyperventilating saxophone kept lunging into spasms until finally an outbreak of dizzying orchestra blew the doors off any boundaries that may have been set in place for music convention. This is mind blowing stuff and is encased in a concept of a ship lost at sea and how the crew fight for survival against incredible odds. It moves eventually into an acoustic rhythm with beautiful flute responses and a song begins.

We have come Out of the Woods into The Hollow Lands. I am already in love with the hyper strangeness of odd rock and orchestra symphonic expulsions. I begin to realise why the album was hailed as one of the albums of 2012. It is purely progressive heaven. The way the band utilise bass and scratchy guitar on this song is incredible. This is the song I had heard on the sampler and I couldn't stop playing it. It is mesmirising. Then an awful thought hit me; that I would have to go into the album of the year thread and redo my top 10, yet again, and this will be an equal number one. This is amazing music and I don't know why it took me so long to get to it. The lyrics spell out the tale unfolding of a cabin boy as part of a ship's crew; 'It seems the order was clear, 'go see if anything's there', so our ship set sail found her course, and in a month a hundred souls slipped through the veil, to state our claim to the Hollow Lands'.

Next it is Through The Veil, a 16 minute epic that opens with scratching on a guitar or something. It is weird and delightfully avant garde. The sax reminds me of Jackson's odd chimes from 'Pawn Hearts'. It builds into a heavy fuzz guitar riff stinking of classic 70s rock and it is buried in avant sax outbursts that grind with vivacious delight. The pure invention and bold approach is captivating and never fails to impress. This is prog with the hinges hanging off the doors, not just out of the box, the box is blown clean open. It is quite unnerving in sections, with screaming violins, crescendos that blaze from nowhere and then are layered with beauty. I listened to this during a rather downbeat moment in my life and it spoke to my heart. This is so incredible, I feel even more moved emotionally than my first listen of the masterpieces of King Crimson and Van der Graaf Generator. It changes time sig at 5:50 and motors along with staccato sax, and out of sync guitar that floods through and germinates into spasmodic fireballs of anger.

The lyrics unfold the amazing tale; 'Something fills the air, it's all around us, as striking as a bolt out of the blue, the impact's nearly rendered us unconscious, laid a mist upon the crew'. It feels aggressive and unfriendly but it is such a refreshing soundscape, the way prog should be, not the poor excuses of prog bands that commercialise everything they put their hand to. To heck with commercial, Motorpsycho are the real deal and are full on proglords. The vocals are like Hawkwind and the guitars are like Led Zeppelin or Budgie tuned down; it has a distinct 70s sound, that was captured by Opeth on 'Heritage'. At 11:50 the song takes a detour into pure sonic violence with a freakout psychedelic lead break over a cacophony of brass noise. Then it moves into a spacey reverberating voice effect akin to Camel or Led Zeppelin's most psychedelic vocal work. The way the sax riff locks in and allows the other musicians to commit jazzerside over the scape is an astonishing achievement; this is the beauty of the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Trondheimssolistene. I love how this music is not designed for the squeamish, and how it would cause the average music listener to switch off; this is prog dammit!

Doldrums is next, much shorter at 3:07, but no less inventive, glistening with off kilter brass and downright chilling musical figures, like an orchestra in its most rebellious state of mind. At this stage I had to look at who was playing this zany music; we have Bent S'ther on vocals, bass, Hans Magnus Ryan on vocals, guitars, Kenneth Kapstad on drums, and Staale Storl'kken on keyboards. They are an incredible unit and are getting some well deserved attention with this astounding album. The Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Trondheimssolistene are a real drawcard to this album though as they provide intense musicscapes that really augment the rock sections.

Into The Gyre is replete with beautiful violins in the opening that move into a floating flute passage. The heavenly sounds threaten to break out and yet it merges into an airy vocal instead. The music is mischievous playing with time sigs and tempo changes. I can depict a semblance of a concept more clearly that revolves around the sailors on a voyage to somewhere, who hit a snag as the ship is plummeted down.; 'Down into this sailor's tale, damned before the storm, and into the gyre we'll go, I think I feel the Maelstrom's tug, on our ship, my mind and my soul'. It builds with cymbal splashes and plucking guitar Frippisms that may represent waves crashing against the ship as it heads to a destination lashing through torrential storms. It builds ascending higher in pitch and the intensity grows until the crescendo and the fuzz guitar takes dominance with a fret melting lead break, and some dissonant violins scream violently. This is an unbelievable virtuoso performance from all concerned. It is as good as the Van der Graaf Generator outbreaks of the 70s. Then it stops and a lone guitar monotone figure is heard and some tearful alienated violin scrapes. An organ shimmers and throbs with an unnerving drone, and it has a chilling dark resonance. The image of a ship moving slowly through the fog springs into the conscious. At 2 am in the morning this is a creepy soundscape for this reviewer but I cannot stop listening intensely.

Flotsam is a short (1:33) transition style track that has a hollow minimalist violin sound that enhances the feelings of loneliness out on the water lost at sea. The raw sound is so moving, we can even hear the strings being scraped and the bow lifting off, all is mixed to the front for great effect. Then it segues into Oh Proteus - A Prayer, that features more violins with melancholy power. The voice that sings is harmonised; 'our ship is sunk in the deep forever.' It is very sad in mood and a measured performance over the mournful symphonic strings.

'We are lost in the fog directionless,' Bent S'ther sings, and then a majestic organ and violin passage builds with a powerful crescendo. Then a very deep guitar riff joins on an odd time sig as we hear of 'the desert of torment' and the words state the tale has taken a turn for the worst as the crew bravely fight for survival now their ship is lost. 'an ocean of thirst and madness, Oh, we must row ' put your weight on the oars, oh, we must pull as if everything depended on it, Let us sing a song while we bend to the task, let us set the course by the stars, and let us row and save our lives.' Again my thoughts are drawn to VDGG's 'A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers', not only the lyrics but especially the atmosphere and creepy effects made by odd musical figures.

Sculls In Limbo is an atmospheric piece with very eerie music that has a haunting resonance. La Lethe is more upbeat with a dynamic jazz fusion feel like Mahavishnu Orchestra on slow motion. It mirrors the feeling of rowing on an endless ocean, and has that ray of hope the sailors would also have at this point as food runs dry and the sea becomes a beast ready to swallow them whole. This is a powerful instrumental that has many emotional textures, it is sombre, bleak and yet strangely compelling music.

Oh Proteus - A Lament is another short piece (1:05), with doom laden lyrics; 'Something here is wrong, Still hunger is gnawing, and I feel my mind is going slowly.' Sharks (7:56) is an appropriate title as we realise the sailors are going to be eaten alive by the ferocious killers of the sea. This track moves in many directions like sharks circling as the protagonists face certain doom in the terrifying maw of the sharks. The lyrics state it clearly; 'Nothing moves but the fins of the sharks that swim, So endlessly, dark shadows that roam the deep, stalk our wake and haunt our sleep so ghastly white.' So the occupants await their turn to die, but the protagonist does not want to go quietly in the night without a fight; 'We ventured to find the hollow earth but all that we found were the hollows on our souls screaming for subsistence, gnawing, devouring, to give my life to give them their lives? Such preposterous hypocrisy I cannot abide, oh no I will not go quietly.' The lyrics are staggering in their poetic beauty and are perfectly matched by the glorious progressive jazz symphony.

Mutiny! Is a fast paced track, quite jarring after all the gentle ambience. In fact it blazes with heavy guitars chugging and brass stings. It moves into dissonant competing guitars and reverberating keyboards. It is a raucous sound emulating the trauma of the protagonists who fight for control on the boat. The lyrics speak of the mutiny 'Damn you sir, and damn your etiquette! The blood red moon has set and you're not here for long, I'm no gent, but don't take me for a fool, I serve no master and I won't obey your rules! You're a thief and taker! You're a cheat and faker!'

The noisy avant jazz settles into violins and segues to Into The Mystic. This last track wraps up the concept beautifully, opening with 70s style guitar riffs and a wonderful pulsating bassline. The violins are everpresent howling over the guitars and pounding drums. It is an accomplishment the way the musicians are able to capture so much raw emotion with the blend of rock and jazz. The protagonist tells the last part of the tale; 'It was a hopeless try, but I couldn't just lay down and die.' He has survived after 'staring death in the face' but he is now left with painful memories as 'deep into the mystic I gazed.' The music feels like a finale, the violins and flute compete nicely with a Fripp like guitar riff and there are some lovely sweeping symphonic textures. The keyboards join in and there is a wall of sound drawing the album to a close.

I can only include with the inevitable after being treated to a mesmerising musical explosion like this. The album is an undisputable masterpiece of prog and one of the must listen to albums of 2012.

The Death Defying Unicorn reminds me somehow of THE WHO's Quadrophenia but, musically, it reminds me most of MAUDLIN OF THE WELL's 2001 Bath/Leaving Your Body Map release(s). There is about an equal mix of delicate, often orchestral (jazz and string) parts that use vocals and/or acoustic (orchestral) instruments layered and mixed into/and with long, repetitive, plodding heavy parts. The effort is ambitious and laudable I'm just not sure the outcome and effect are as laudable as my fellow reviewers are extolling.

1. "Out of the Woods" (2:41) starts the album off with an intro filled with a lot of dissonance and tension being carried out among orchestra and large horn section (the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra). (8/10)

2. "The Hollow Lands" (7:37) begins quite powerfully with some multi-layered, busy music feeling quite a bit like THE WHO's Quadrophenia and SYLVAN's Posthumous Silence. It goes on for what seems like a long time. Too long. When it quiets down and the singing/story begins there is a nice MOODY BLUES feel to it--melody, vocals and all. The bass, drum and guitar interlude at 3:45 is awesome--turning very psychedelic after the electric guitar starts to solo (and still surprisingly MOODY BLUES-like!). An all-instrument build and crescendo opens up for a return to the singing/melody part. The orchestration almost clutters/muddies it, though. Ends with orchestral segue into the next song. (9/10) 3. "Through the Veil" (16:03) begins with some percussives a la BLUE MAN GROUP and Ståle Storløkken's SUPERSILENT. The percussive groove is quickly augmented and taken over by a very full horn section. Just before the two minute mark, a powerful heavy rock groove takes over sounding like a cross between CLAPTON and HENDRIX. The vocals enter giving it a very ALICE IN CHAINS sings CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG feel to it. The next section, beginning around the 3:40 mark, takes one on a journey as if ARANIS were playing WINGS' "Live and Let Die." THE WHO takes over with a kind of QUADROPHENIA ride from 6:50 to 10:20. Nice work from the horn section. Then a HENDRIX-like guitar riff reintroduces and accompanies the re-entry of the vocal part. At 11:33 the heavy rock parade switches gear, to a kind of STEPPENWOLF/IRON BUTTERFLY jam. But then things quiet down at 12:25, get bluesy until a psychedelic guitar riff, and distorted vocals take over for a bit with "I can never go back, never go back there" BYRDS/CSN&Y section. Awesome bass sound and lines. SYD BARRETT would love this music! (Maybe he's there: playing the guitars!) African-like drumming with electronic psychedelia guitar sounds play out till it ends with an organ leading into the next song. (8/10)

4. "Doldrums" (3:07) is kind of a modern orchestral interlude. Quiet. Like doldrums. (7/10)

5. "Into the Gyre" (10:23) ("whirlpool"?) begins with a chamber orchestra intro, wobbling (on purpose) as electronic instruments join in and take over. Very SUPERSILENT-like. Layered vocal sections takes over, sounding like it's telling a BEATLES-esque children's story. At 4:32 the song finally kicks out of park and into gear--though taking a while to establish exactly what gear that will be. I guess 'cruise.' At 6:10 the boys must hit the autobahn cuz it suddenly races into overdrive--on a busy road, at that, cuz the soloing guitar, bass, drums, horns, and keys are all racing--as if against each other: the cohesion seems a bit lost, more like reckless abandon and chaotic unpredictability. Then it stops. (A crash?) This quiet section again makes me wonder if there isn't supposed to be a visual element running along with this, so mysterious is this rather eery, almost ambient section. To end. Not my favorite song. (Nor would it be my favorite rollercoaster ride.) (6/10)

6. "Flotsam" (1:33) is almost like a solo cello's tuning session. What is going on?? Floating debris after the shipwreck? (5/10)

7. "Oh Proteus ? A Prayer" (7:35) begins with a gorgeous little string trio. Vocals and synths join at 0:45 in a very TOBY DRIVER way: chromatic singing over dissonant chords. This goes on and on, builds, Toby is joined by his usual thick guitars and bass, plodding on, trying to pretend to invite the listener in with samples of 'pretty' melody, while the music is warning you to be cautious--be very cautious! Interesting song. (7/10) 8. "Sculls in Limbo" (2:21) offers another "Silent Sorrows"/"Welcome to the Machine" intro- type moment. Space. Must be floating. Still. (6/10)

9. "La Lethe" (7:53) begins with a kind of jazzy pulsation, again TOBY DRIVER- or even ULVER-like, eventually establishing a more ULVERish Post Rock feel to it, down to the plodding, pulsing pace, wild horns playing in the background, and odd male voices 'groaning' around in the fore and background. I guess this is a very good musical representation of Hades' River Lethe. Glad I don't live or work there! Does this mean the protagonist is close to death? Great MEL COLLINS-like sax solo in the six and seventh minutes. A suspenseful pause ensues at the 6:20 mark before an AFTER CRYING-like orchestral crescendo enters and builds. Violins lead into the next song. (8/10)

10. "Oh Proteus ? A Lament" (1:05) is a multi-layered vocal in which the protagonist muses about his surroundings/fate.

11. "Sharks" (7:56) is such a murky, mysterious, yet ultimately pretty TOBY DRIVER/RADIOHEAD/RAVEL's "Bolero"-like song. It just goes on way too long. (about the same length as "Bolero"! More than a coincidence?) I especially enjoy the entrance of the brief appearance of horns at 3:15. The ensuing lyric is sung almost tongue-in-cheek, comically. Intentional irony? The sharks thrashing in the final two minutes is pretty good. (8/10)

12. "Mutiny!" (8:33) transitions from the tension of shark-infested waters into theme music from a high-octane James Bond rescue mission--or a great song left off of motW's Part the Second album. Perhaps the only song on the album with a fairly straightforward, familiar melody. Definitely a great prog/classic rock feel. An early-KING CRIMSON-like instrumental section mid-song continues to make this one feel like a keeper for the all-time playlist. (10/10)

13. "Into the Mystic" (7:05) is an amazing song with all kinds of wild voice samples and a The feel and sounds remind me of some of the harder-driving music of THE MOODY BLUES and THE HOLLIES with a hint of RICK WAKEMAN. Although it segues straight out of "Mutiny!" it starts off with an awesome violin solo from Ola Kvernberg. The WHO/MOODY BLUES-like vocal melody and JETHRO TULL acoustic guitar-part from song 2, "The Hollow Lands" returns in full force, in its awesome glory--and is later rejoined by great violin, synth, and, of course, the ubiquitous heavy bass and drums.

The final lyrics leave me a bit befuddled: I didn't really sense this dude's struggle with other men--or even much within himself--but more of the random travesties of nature (both Mother and human). Eh?

A masterpiece, IMHO, is something that either offers something new mentally, sonically/aurally, or compositionally--something that could have an impact on other musicians and perhaps on the course of music history (of which, of course, only time can be the judge) OR it is music that offers the listener a package that is so enthralling, so emotionally engaging, that it keeps drawing you back again and again over time. Though I've owned Death Defying Unicorn for a while now I have had trouble A) listening to the entirety in a single sitting and B) feeling drawn in enough to want sit through the whole thing --especially the epics "Through the Veil" and "Into the Gyre." The songs seem to go on longer than I can stay connected. Even the 'shorter' songs, "Hollow Lands" (7:37), "Oh, Proteus?A Prayer" (7:35), "La Lethe" (7:53), and "Sharks" (7:56) seem to drag on longer than they 'need' to. (Only "Mutiny!" (8:33) and "Into the Mystic" (7:05) hit on all cylinders, IMO.) Why are they so long? Why are they so tunnel driven bordering on monotonous? What is the purpose and/or value of this story (I mean, does it have valuable lessons or archetypical significance to the universal listener, or is it a myopic tale from someone's personal dream or altered state of consciousness)? Is this piece of music intended to accompany a visual display (film, slide, art gallery, ballet, or stage play)? Is this really meant to be a theatrical soundtrack? If so, it may, in fact, need to be heard in association with that other medium in order to be fully appreciated.

I have to say, however, that as a purely musical adventure it has trouble standing on its own as a "masterpiece." It is interesting and has many excellent parts and amazing compositional ideas (blending orchestra, jazz group and rock quintet to tell a 90 minute story), but it is not a piece in which the listener finds himself easily drawn into or compelled to stay within the magical spell of the music--not like Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Brahms' 2nd or 3rd, YES's "Close to the Edge", GENESIS's The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway or "Supper's Ready," MIKE OLDFIELD's Incantations, many of the master-jams from the realms of Krautrock, Space/Psychedelia or Electronica or any of the Colossus/Musea Records epics from Odyssey: The Greatest Tale. Only one song stands out as "amazing" in a way that makes me want to push repeat over and over (well, actually two: the last two--which are pretty much one song), and neither the story nor the music is so compelling as to keep me engrossed for the full length of the "play."

As adventurous as this project is, as admirable is the vision and intent, I do not find it a success at creating a timeless masterpiece of musical entrainment. I like it, I will revisit it, and I will recommend it to the hardcore prog lovers out there. On that note, I rate this with 3.5 stars: it is IMHO, less than "excellent addition to any prog rock music collection" but significantly better than "good." More like a 3.88. It is not essential to every prog listener's music collection. I would recommend it to any and all prog lovers who are drawn to explore musics that push the envelope--that offer something different and out-of-the ordinary. I truly appreciate the mastery displayed in the attempt to render this ambitious project--and that the artists themselves might feel quite satisfied and successful in their result. I merely question how well their "success" will translate into sales, referrals and a place in the history books.