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Pure Reason Revolution - Eupnea CD (album) cover

EUPNEA

Pure Reason Revolution

 

Crossover Prog

3.98 | 246 ratings

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BrufordFreak
3 stars This was a totally unexpected pleasure! Since the band's last studio album, Hammer and Anvil, was released in 2010, I had thought they were kaput.

Other reviewers comment on the "return to the form of their debut (The Dark Third)" while some have noted what I feel is a more accurate description of Eupnea being a kind of perfect mélange of all three of their previous albums. The atmospheric spaciousness of TDT is definitely present in spades?as as re the wonderful multiple layered vocals of Chloë and Rob--but the heavy chord play and darkness of Amor Vincit Omnia and Hammer and Anvil are also quite present. Where this album shows its weakness, I'm sorry to say, is in the lyrical content. WTF are they talking about? These lyrics are too banal, too personal, and not poetic enough to stand alone without interpretation. And then, with Jon's nicely laid out song-by-song run through (on louder sound website) it brings more clarity and significance to each song's lyrics but it shouldn't have to be this way. I'm looking for transparency with the sensuality of Baudelaire, not hidden meaning within a sub-functional vocabulary. It's very disappointing to me when so much effort is spent on creating such beautiful, meticulously charted vocals when the messages being conveyed are naught but nugatory persiflage.

Still, many people are remarking on the band's newfound "confidence" and maturity and I will second this: the way the music is spread out and in no hurry to start, develop, or finish indicates to me a band that is very confident in what it is doing?enjoying every note and every nuance of each song's journey. And it pays off as this spaciousness allows for the listeners to have some really meaty material to sink into?and sink deeply!

Music: 8.75/10; sound/production: 9/10; lyrics: 7/10. Unfortunately, this is not an instrumental album.

Five star songs: 2. "Silent Genesis" (10:20) (18.25/20); 4. "Ghosts & Typhoons" (8:45) with its amazing second half (18/20), and; 6. "Eupnea" (13:23) (26.5/30).

Four star songs: 1. "New Obsession" (5:07) (8.67/10); 3. "Maelstrom" (5:44) (8.33/10); 5. "Beyond Our Bodies" (4:28) (8.5/10)

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of progressive rock music. It's so great to have Pure Reason back! And I'm happy for the positive outcome of Jon's daughter's premature birth.

BrufordFreak | 3/5 |

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