THE KING

A couple days ago I received a package from Erik de Beer (Multi instrumentalist of THE LIFE LINE PROJECT) with their third album "The King". The first surprise was the nice detail of mentioning this humble reviewer and Prog Archives in the booklet for helping him with the addition of the band to the database....The truth is that most of the work was done by Erik and his sister Dorinde, who wrote the bio and provided the photo....But thanks for the courtesy.

Now, lets talk about "The King", and it's interesting to say that the idea comes back from 1976 but it's only in 2009 when Erik was diagnosed with terminal cancer that he decides to finish this long time delayed project. But sometimes bad things turn into good, the doctors made a mistake and the diagnose was changed to a non fatal disease and the album is ready to see the light and for us to enjoy,

"The King" starts with the dramatic "Opening". From the beginning is obvious that this is originally a 70's project with pompous and strong organ sections perfectly supported by powerful drumming, the Moog solo and posterior organ are reminiscent of TRIUMVIRAT'S virtuoso "Jürgen Fritz". During 5 minutes LIFE LINE PROJECT gives no rest to the listener, jumping from frenetic passages to nostalgic sections, a great opener.

Is this the End? was planned to be Erik's musical goodbye, so the mood is softer and melancholic with a very nice acoustic guitar. The vocals by "Mauschka Kartosonto" are very unusual, maybe a bit too acute for my personal taste, but fit perfectly in the atmosphere of the song. Later the guitar and flute sections are delightful,. but the vocals are not my cup of tea.

"Free Passage" is a short and frenetic track in which Erik gives a lesson with the keyboards, again no rest for the listener, each of the 2:26 minutes is full of sounds and powerful music.

"Dusk is an atmospheric and acoustic song with Medieval moments, as in the case of a ravelling troubadour, the flute guides the band until about the middle, when "Erik de Beer" adds his dramatic guitar, still some soft flute passages appear once in a while, but the song turns nostalgic and stronger.

Now it's the time for "The King", a 38:00 minutes multi-part epic dedicated originally to Ceaucescu but which fits George W. Bush perfectly according to he inner notes.

There's too much inside this long track to mention every one of the 10 parts, from soft to aggressive sections that link perfectly as a puzzle, if I had to choose a couple of sections, I would have to go with the soft and acoustic "Defeat" (More or less in the style of Jan Akkerman) and the vibrant "Doom" with it's clear "Emersonian" sound, but to be honest, enjoyed all the epic.

Now comes the always hard part of rating, because translating all what you have heard during 55 minutes to a 5 points system is too cold and empty, but if I want to be fair, will go with 4 solid stars.