RESISTANCE IS USELESS

This album represents a quantum leap over Kalaban's previous effort in terms of maturity and consistency, full of killer spacy synthesizers and soaring melodic lines, and expansive songs. This is by far my favorite CD from Syn-Phonic's homegrown label.

The odd tracks are the ones to pay special attention to. "Dance of Shiva" is a short piece with a very cool piano riff that builds to an over-the-top spacey and expansive ending--a fun opener to the album. "Hotash Slay" and "Eyes of a Seer" are lengthy pieces that build slowly and effectively, with plenty of interesting twists and turns, and satisfying conclusions. But my favorite song on the album is "Sleepless," a reverie of soaring melodies over lush keyboard textures.

At some points the band is a little overmatched by their music, and the album production has some flaws. Stout's drums, while competent overall, could be tighter in their patterns, there are a couple of obviously missed notes in the keybaords, and the vocals drift a bit out of tune in spots. But the production does manage to cram in all that keyboard goodness with clarity and presence, ready for your headphones to pump out. And given the fact that we're basically talking about the underground of the underground here, that it exists at all for you to enjoy should be cause to celebrate.

I would love to see a new generation of prog fans discover this album.