PURPOSEFUL PORPOISE

Purposeful Porpoise comes across as a vital setup, exploring a style of progressive rock I'd generally describe as founded in the classic era, yet without any direct pointers to specific bands other than certain trace elements and tendencies in terms of mood and atmosphere. Fans of bands such as Yes, Kansas and probably even Camel might want to give this one a spin, and in particular those among that crowd who know and appreciate music of this kind with improvisational aspects and a slight orientation towards jazz-rock.

The concept during recording the album was that they would record the songs while playing them live in the studio. That gave the music authenticity and emotion. During recording things happened in the music, even some improvisation. My humble opinion says me that they have done this very well!

The music is divided on two CD's. The first CD has three long songs. The first song "Crossing Into The Unknown" is a nice example of crossover: i hear some Neo-Prog and Symphonic elements. It is a 20 minute wave of soft flowing sessions and harder rythmic pieces. The second and third song shows a variety of musical craftmanship, but i miss the good feeling i had during the first. For me these are the least attractive.

With the second CD things only get better! This is an absolute jewel, I have enjoyed every minute of listening. On this CD are seven songs that are generally shorter than the three songs on the first CD. On the second CD all music is divided into these seven songs, but it seems to me that the first six are flowing into one great epic piece. Here the concept of recording live really shines! The intricate voice from Alex Cora is sometimes rough, and then his voice is so delicate that it almost sounds feminine, beautiful! I can not point one song out as the best, because there is too much too choose. The album finishes with an instrumental piece, that i have enjoyed. But for me it was as if this song was not a part of the CD, I would have left it out or put it on the first CD.

Altogether, i have enjoyed the music very much and have rated it five well earned stars. Highly reccommendable!