IMPOSSIBLE LANDSCAPE

12/20

50th place album of the year

First and foremost, Children of Nova are not a neo-prog band. At all. The categorizing here is purely a mistake, unless their debut is radically different. This would fit better in Crossover, but I honestly think it's a whole new subgenre.

Children of Nova fall into an umbrella genre of bands I like to call "New Prog" (possibly accounting for the neo-prog mixup). This term, which I don't like, I stole from Wikipedia, and I use to describe The Mars Volta?esque progressive bands who may fall under progressive versions of other genres like alternative rock, indie rock and post-hardcore. Other bands here include Coheed & Cambria, Circa Survive, early Muse and Three. They focus on short and hectic songs rather than long and drawn-out epics.

To the music. The Impossible Landscape has been called a huge step down from their debut "The Complexity of Light" by fans, but I have not heard that album, and I quite like what we have here. Any fans of indie/post-hardcore will enjoy what's on store here, with nice, short songs with striking melodies and vocals similar to that of Casey from The Dear Hunter or a lower-pitched Anthony from Circa Survive. There are some pretty headbanging sections (the quick-paced 12/8 riff in opener "Kaleido") to more laid back indie stuff ("Feel Alive" and 6½ minute closer "It's Just A Ride").

With its very nice album art, "The Impossible Landscape" is very high on my to-buy list (I'm not exactly wealthy as an unemployed 16 year old), and should be good for fans of the aforementioned bands. There aren't really many drawbacks, but I'll admit that after a few listens (I'm on my 12th play of it now) it gets a bit dreary and tiring, but I'm sure most of you aren't trying to write reviews and don't need to play it that many times.

A welcome addition to the growing family of "new prog" bands, a genre I hope progarchives will recognise someday.

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