MADNESS AND MAGIC

Arabs in Aspic is a Norwegian symphonic prog rock band. I've known about them for quite a while and I've heard a few songs here and there but this is the first album I've listened to front to back. The music here is seriously fantastic, it sounds great, its epic, extremely layered and detailed. What really makes this album for me is the rhythm section, particularly the percussion. On top of the regular drums we have this awesome addition of non conventional rock percussion and it really feels like the glue holding everything together and making it all work so well. Why doesn't more modern prog have this going for it? The songs often develop into these really nasty flowing jams and I feel like they take this style and successfully create their own identity among the sea of bands tackling this style which is very good. My two favorite tracks are the opening and closing tracks with the former really setting the mood with its menacing guitars and thumping percussion eventually developing into pure organ bliss around the 5:48 mark. The final track "Heaven in your Eye" is a 16 minute track that really just melts time away. In my opinion it's an all around successful epic. I think with Arabs In Aspic its less about big bombastic peaks as it seems to focus more on developing and adding layers to build these really awesome prog rock soundscapes. Simply some of the best Scandinavian prog i've heard. It's not Wobbler or Opeth tier, but it's in the upper echelon if you ask me.

However....

There's one glaring issue that is very offputting to me about this album and it's the lyrical content. It's clear Arabs in Aspic have not mastered the art of subtly which is shown by cringe worthy titles such as "I Vow to Thee my Screen" and "Lulluby For Modern Kids." I'm much more of a vocal melody guy rather than someone who cares deeply about lyrics, and while the melodies are perfectly fine, it got to the point where the lyrics were just hard to ignore and became a bit of an offputting distraction. The album tackles the issue of I guess... phone addiction? We live in a time where just about everyone owns one of these devices which allows us to listen to whatever we want, watch pretty much anything, talk to anyone over voice or text and generally keep us entertained whenever we want. While there might be a discussion to be had about this, here it just rubs me the wrong way. I feel like to put it simply, the lyrics don't fit the music. This is something out of touch 55 year old bald dudes and wine moms post about on facebook, not something you write a prog album about (get off my lawn!). Maybe I can speak about it as a "Modern Kid" (age 19), i'm very happy to be able to pick up my phone and talk to my best friends any time I want, I love wanting to listen to something and being able to with just a few taps. If i'm bored, it's great to just lay back and watch some interesting Youtube videos. But guess what? I still go out a buy physical copies of albums, I still sit and practice piano several hours a day, I still regularly get together with friends, I still go out and explore, I still exercise and I still read everyday. The phone is just a nice bonus that generally makes people happy and it's certainly not exclusive to younger folks. At the end of the day, I'd rather not hear music preaching about how me and everyone else my age is harmfully addicted to their device of choice.

There is absolutely a discussion to be had and plenty of subject matter related to phones, social media, and disconnection. But this goes in all the wrong directions if you ask me and it just really needs to be far more subtle. With all that said, the music is still great, so i'll give it 4 stars, but unfortunately poor lyrics and themes keep it from possibly being masterful.

7/10 Very Strong 3 Stars