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Echolyn - Suffocating the Bloom CD (album) cover

SUFFOCATING THE BLOOM

Echolyn

 

Symphonic Prog

4.17 | 363 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

progrules
Prog Reviewer
4 stars I think we may conclude that this highly acclaimed release by Echolyn has caused me quite some headaches mainly because Echolyn has never been and never will be 100% my band. And this is especially caused by their Gentle Giant-like approach of making music. This supposed masterpiece however certainly breathes class and quality and on top of that it's created in an era prog wasn't really back on their feet yet, resurrecting indeed but not quite there leaving aside the huge masterpieces by Anglagard and Dream Theater.

But I just noticed this one was no.3 over 1992 according to our sites ratings so that can't be a coincidence and it deserves respect. So far I only owned one of Echolyns successing albums (When the sweet turns sour) and that one was a complete disappointment, not only considered so by me. And I have to admit that every time I hear this magnum opus by the band I simply can't deny the speciality it obviously is. Suffocating is a mix of accessibility and inaccessibility, a mix of hard to grasp complexity (the 28 minute suite for instance) and sheer beauty (The Sentimental Chain, The Voice). Or in other words: this is prog as prog is supposed to be.

The headache it gives me is mainly caused by the ultimate rating I will have to give it. My gut feeling tells me to give it three because it doesn't meet my personal taste completely. But there is a big resistance within me to do so. As if I will do this piece of art great injustice. After all, this output can hardly be called non-essential, can it ? It can't, and that's why I'm forced to give four, not just forced by the general opinion but also by myself. Highly recommended to those who seek the true prog gems. A bit of warning though if you just expect beautiful harmonic music since after all this is placed in the symphonic subgenre. It might just as well have been in the eclectic department due to the high Gentle Giant grade within the musical sound. But all things considered we're dealing with a (near) masterpiece here. Four stars from me (3,75).

progrules | 4/5 |

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