ICEFLOWER

Tai Shan from land of 1000 lakes is an unfairly unknown prog/jazz rock band with two albums under their belt so far. I was really impressed by their second offer released this year named Iceflower. Very strong musicianship and quite intresting and memorable arrangements overall. All album is instrumental and I'm saying with my hand on heart this is one of the top al;bums of the year for me, really awesome band work. The album beggins with the kick ass tune Highlands, 6 min of pure magic for me, the keyboards, the guitar , drums, bass lines are top notch, very strong piece who sets the mood for the entire album.Janne S'rkel' the guitarist really knew to compose a great inspired tune. Is up tempo with nice shifting passages where the keybords and guiatar are well balanced and alternated in great manner. Another highlights are After Rain, another worthy example of prog meets jazz rock , the result is quite excellent to my ears, specially the guitar is impressive, nice atmosphere with a scandinavian feel, lots of twists and tempo changes. Seven minds and the title track are another worthy listning. All in all the album really smokes, is not overly complex to get bored, is not simple to be almost mainstream, is fairly decent with plenty of memorable and colorful soundscapes. For me easy 4 stars, one of the better albums of this year for sure. And as a bonus notice, Janne Jakola the bass player is the son of the keybordist Markus Jakola, both making an excellent performance here. Very underrated band.