III

Apparently the remaing trio of Brother Ape, Damicolas, Maxen and Bergman found a very good chemistry, as taped on the -at least- amazing ''Shangri-la'', so there were no further thoughts on replacing the departed Peter Dahlstrom.So the same formation was the one that recorded the band's third full-length album on Progress Records, simply titled ''III'', and launched in 2008.

There is some dramatic reduction of the band's early jazzy influences in this album, of course the combination of Pop, Prog and Symphonic Rock, as presented here, could be fairly called Fusion at some deegree, especially after the band has chosen a style full of quirky keyboards and tempo changes, but this not the Fusion as we know it from Jazz music, this is more of an intelligent blending between different Rock styles without significant jazzy elements.They sound a lot like FREDDEGREDDE, Sky Architect's CHRIS, maybe a bit of BEARDFISH and Bulgarians VIRTUEL, they offer a bombastic sound with poppy influences, catchy tunes and striking themes, but the musicianship remains at a very high level without being overly complex or getting lost in a labyrinth of odd ideas and virtuosic noodling.The sound is relying heavily on synthesizers/keyboard programming, powerful bass work and tricky guitar plays with both electric and acoustic passages and bits of sax, while one of the biggest weapons of the band are the excellent, well-worked vocal harmonies.Apparently they went for a wider audience with this work, mixing Pop with Art Rock, Indie Rock and Orchestral Music with sufficient results, however not surpassing the top quality of the previous albums.But they even can offer some even more serious Prog like on the fantastic ''All I really want'', a track filled with rare emotions due to the romantic vocals, and a very GENESIS/LITTLE TRAGEDIES following atmosphere with Mellotron samplers, acoustic themes, melodic solos and grandiose keyboards.

I am afraid this is not that fascinating than any of the previous works of Brother Ape, I guess becoming a bit poppier means you'll lose some of your dedicated, demanding fans.It's still a pretty cool work of Prog Pop/Neo Prog with tight songwriting, a very fresh approach and convincing compositions.Recommended.