SOUND OF THE APOCALYPSE

WATCH OUT: THIS IS LESSER AND UNKNOWN PROGROCK!

In 2004 this Swedish formation released its debut CD entitled Lady Of The Light, it contains very pleasant work on Hammond and Mellotron and the sound is deeply rooted in the late Sixties/early Seventies, I love it! This new CD has an awesome lay-out, especially the fold-out cover (similar to Yessongs but unfortunately on CD size) featuring a mindblowing painting of the apocalypse with lots of nature violence, very dark and ominous but also fascinating. But how about the music?

Well, I have to admit that my first listening session was a bit disappointing but gradually it grew, just like good prog! Black Bonzo their sound on this CD alternates between melodic rock and Heavy Prog with echoes from Seventies Uriah Heep and Kansas but less obvious than on their debut CD, Black Bonzo has matured in writing and done their best to sound more original. In general Black Bonzo delivers fluent and bombastic songs but it's remarkable how many tracks contain interesting shifting moods and surprising musical ideas: Giant Games has a break with choir-Mellotron and xylophone, Yesterdays Friends starts with classical guitar and flute and in Ageless we can enjoy a typically late Sixties/early Seventies bluesrock guitar interlude. The long final composition Sound Of The Apocalypse (more than 13 minutes) sounds very strong: first fragile piano and warm vocals, from mellow it becomes more and more lush, than omonous and bombastic with wonderful classical orechestrations and after a great build-up with lots of tension, the grand finale is very compelling, topped by a sensitive electric guitar solo.

To me this sounds as a beautiful, very melodic CD with the distinctive and pleasant sound of vintage keyboards (Hammond, Mellotron and Minimoog), good vocals and tasteful compositions, a big hand for Black Bonzo!

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