SHIBBOLETH

"Shibboleth" is one of these albums you buy with no expectations. Yes, you heard the name of the band from time to time but you never really checked them out...FATAL ERROR! This album deserves to be listened. "Shibboleth" is difficult to classify. I even think that you should't try to classify it because the impacts and elements are so multifaceted and reach from Brand X-like fusion to King Crimson and even Pär Lindh Project. The style fits partially in the so called Retroprog genre as well as some fusion with Holdswoth like soloing. The female vocals are very good and reminded me of "Veni Vidi Vici" by the Pär Lindh Project.

The album starts with with a powerfull drum and bass part just to present a Holdswoth like guitar part before the vocals kick in. The variety within the first 5 minutes is so immense, some other bands could take a leaf out of their book. And you will recognize it within the first Song "The picture slave", that you have problems to categorize this band, so don't even try it, just lean back and enjoy, the next song for example. "De Profundis" is a 12 minute long epic following the direction of the opener. Maybe there are a few parts wich seem to be a bit too long and the background melodie or riff is a bit nerving in the end because it goes along with you for the whole 12 minutes. "Cardinal Red" is shorter and more compact, you can say that it really becomes the song. Some Keyboard solos make up the ending of the song. "Spiral bound" is a short piano dominated ballad, not bad. The highlight of the album for sure is the 23 minute "Chovihani Rise". It features a lot of weird instrumental parts and solos sounding totally different from each other. Some are typical fusion solos, others sound as if they belong to Retroprog or even NeoProg. Astonishing is the change between odd instrumental parts and melodious ones. A terrific song, the best one on "Shibboleth". The last track "Surface Tension" is a bit heavier in the beginning but comes down for the vocal part, rises again and features some nice soloing until the song is over. Really nice.

"Shibolleth" is the enemy of stereotyped thinking. If you sort your albums by genres, please let my know how many copies you bought to suit every genre. This is an album for fans of any kind of proggressive rock. If there is an album I would highly recommend to almost everybody, "Shibboleth" is the one. 4 stars means that this album is a good addition to ANY Prog Rock Collection.