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Stick Men - Prog Noir CD (album) cover

PROG NOIR

Stick Men

 

Eclectic Prog

3.72 | 93 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
5 stars I never kept in secret my dislike for most KING CRIMSON, so when Leonardo MoonJune Pavkovic sent me a copy of Prog Noir by STICK MEN being that the lineup reminded me of Thrak (an album which I absolutely dislike), wasn't really enthusiastic. After some days and with some reluctance listened it and was gladly surprised.

The versatility of Levin and Reuter plus the ability of Pat Mastelotto in the drums simply replace the lack of keyboards (Something indispensable for a Symphonic fan), creating a very special atmosphere that combines strong rhythmic passages with a melodic base that really blew my brains.

Even when they have strong reminiscences of KING CRIMSON, Their sound is so unique that anything they play is simply beyond comparison and manage to keep the interest of their audience from the first to the last note.

My favorite track is Plutonium where after a constant repetition of a musical phrase and narration they pay to visit Carl Orff's 'Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi', YES Roundabout and Tchaikovsky's 1812 (Well really The Marsellaise) in a really amusing way, managing to break the almost hypnotic atmosphere (almost like a mantra) and paint a smile in the face of the listener.

But there are also some other great tracks lie the nostalgic Rose in the Sand/Requiem and the vibrant Leonardo, but in general terms, the album is pretty solid form start to end with no weak spots, so better if listened completely instead of choosing tracks.

Yesterday I was listening the album in the car wit my girlfriend and she asked me 'What do this guys play, Prog Rock, Avant Garde or Metal?' My answer was simple, I don't know or care, but it's great music.....After a few minutes that question made me think that if this guys take the risk to create something so elaborate and hard to catalogue and just worry about the music, I may well take the risk of giving them 5 stars.

Ivan_Melgar_M | 5/5 |

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