CREATURES

I'm pleased to report that Prog Rock is alive and well and living in New York! This is the second Frogg Cafe album and I think I'm going to have to go back and explore that debut release. The band have blended a variety of influences from hard rock to jazz and combined a high level of musicianship with a sensitivity towards the art of songwriting. The album opens with the anthemic 'All This Time", Certainly one of the album's heaviest moments as well as what I found to be the most playable song. Complex melodies and counter-melodies interplay with a solid wall of rhythm from bassist Andrew Sussman and drummer James Guarnieri. 'Creatures' and 'Gagutz' reveal much more of the band's jazz influences, whilst 'The Celestial Metal Can' is the obligatory experimental piece, which actually works very well in the context of the album as a whole, creating an interesting atmospheric without becoming esoteric to the point of alienation. Speaking of obligatory pieces the album closes with a twenty-one minute epic called 'Waterfall Carnival', despite it's prog-legend duration it is this piece which most reveals the songwriting skills of Frogg Cafe, kicking off with an acoustic ballad flavour before moving into surprisingly Genesis-like territory. Overall I found the album a joy to listen to and a refreshing change from the current rock scene. Proggers of the world unite and buy this album!