THE PURE SHINE

FLAMING ROW is a German fruity melodic prog metal band, drifting a bit into pop, folk and conceptual opera musical spaces as AYREON likes to do. So modern progressive rock a little metallic, and here a touch of neo, symphonic in addition to the melodic prog which reassures. This is his 3rd album after two other very good CDs and it took him 6 years to come out. In terms of atmosphere we have musicians from THRESHOLD, PAIN OF SALVATION, SPOCK'S BEARD, PATTERN SEEKING ANIMALS, LONTACH, IGNORE THE SIGN but the most important is the pure and clean sound that FLAMING ROW has managed to develop on this opus: pure neo symphonic prog metal opera with an orchestral structure, all with its folk touches. Let's add to this preamble the story told around Stephen KING's short story "The Dark Tower".

"A Tower In The Clouds" sets off with a magical, radiant, magnificent, symphonic tune, the intro that you want without daring to ask for it. There is the air, the majestic side, the classical instruments and the atmosphere, the voice-over then the vocal flights, the same impression as when you first listen to "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence" (the 2nd CD) c 'is to say. And this sequence with "The Last Living Member" bringing with its 3 drawers, felted atmospheres, progressive climbs, breaks arranged with the use of an orchestral ensemble to give even more intensity. The male voice that sends you back to that of Peter GABRIEL, the arpeggios that follow one another and refer to the first GENESIS, everything is done to make you melt. Diffuse ARGOS tones at one point, a HARRIS-style bass at another, the rhythm then switches to AYREON, prog metal with a male voice, good riff. We can feel the listening to VANDEN PLAS to admirably mix these two genres, in short, a must! "Jake's Destiny" always follows on the dry guitar for a rather folk rendering at first, then an Irish and / or medieval bagpipe sends further. At 3 minutes it starts with the symphonic orchestration and this flute which reminds me a bit of OLDFIELD, it picks up everywhere and it has the merit of not being too scattered. Listen to the 2nd instrumental CD to research all the subtleties (yes, there are some differences on the 1st and 5th track!) Before returning to the main sung CD; but remember that after the trumpet, the bagpipe and the wild violin come here to create the jig in a very beautiful, highly technical way. The return to the main tune puts you back in suspense for the second part of the track which leaves with the enchanting voice of Mélanie.

"The Sorcerer", again with 3 under-drawers, takes us to a more complex, more elaborate and more worked territory with a typical voice à la Peter GABRIEL and the convulsions of GENESIS (wind and string instruments) and AYREON, and for Mélanie's angelic voice, we find Anneke's verve at times. A title with breaks, quieter passages, but where progression is essential both in terms of listening and the structure itself. It is obvious that incorporating tracks of 12 to 17 minutes is not done in a flash, that even the ear, even sensitized to progressive rock, will require several plays and will release certain subtleties each time, here the sax, the flute, the piano and the aerial drums will set the tone; " my best "! "The Final Attempt" attacks with once again the sulphurous and committed voice of Mélanie for a simple melodious track, rich but never boring, the singular break of rhythm towards 2'30 '' is worth the detour and there the voice-overs and the sax lead to PINK FLOYD, to PAIN OF SALVATION, to Steven WILSON (just for the jazzy limit synth followed by bass) and even some notes of VANDEN PLAS or some ELOY. The guitar becomes more angry then, the sax arrives aerial too, the voice accompanies suddenly on a tune of "Bohemian Rhapsody", we remain amazed, amazed at so many finds. "The Gunslinger's Creed" goes on with 4 sub drawers so with the continuation of Stephen KING's work, we feel the progression of the story with the notes delivered, pure, chiseled, crystalline from the start, taking by the throat; at one point we think back to Mike OLDFIELD and his typical flutes and folk tunes. Perhaps more / too many voices towards the end of this intoxicating river title at one point, but the tune resumes with an agreed ending, more orchestral to finally calm a little our ears which took it for their ranks (in French in the text!) by a surge at the limit of the musical maelstrom. This album had its release date in 2019, but also in 2020 (January 17 to be precise) for the official one in bac. This album is a pure masterpiece. This album manages to concentrate in 140 minutes (70 sung and 70 purely orchestral) all that one could hope for as a fan of progressive rock, the one who opens up to new and old sounds, the one who no longer thinks of putting sub-groups under each musician, under each artist. This album is just essential for his 2019 and 2020 Cédéthèque because there is just a standardized digest of the best prog influences in it.