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RPWL - Beyond Man and Time CD (album) cover

BEYOND MAN AND TIME

RPWL

 

Neo-Prog

3.89 | 460 ratings

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EatThatPhonebook
Prog Reviewer
4 stars 7/10

A Long, But Extremely Elegant And Sophisticated Odyssey.

'Beyond Man and Time' is the eight studio album by German Prog Rock band RPWL, and this is the band's first great step towards being a much more singular band: because they use to be a Pink Floyd tribute band, they never really lost the grip of their roots, but with this eight album it seems that they're starting to free themselves from that.

First of all, the production of the album is the best the band has ever pulled off; it's extremely clear and sharp, and warmly welcomes the smallest of details to be audible. Details that are for the most part created by the lush, abundant synthesizers, so thick sometimes that it almost feels that you're listening to a New Age record. The thick presence of electronic generated sounds unmasks what the band's evolution is really going towards, a direction that takes to Neo-Prog, more specifically Marillion Hogarth-era. RPWL have also improved their songwriting skills tenfold, which guarantees a top-notch quality for nearly all of the songs here.

But the band still remains very Progressive in their nature, extending their songs to an average length of seven to nine minutes, and including a sixteen minute monster as a second-to-last track. All of these tracks are carefully and elegantly executed by these great musicians, who prove to be able to structure songs neatly and with fabulous flow. Even in the flow of the album as a whole shines: of course, the fact that 'Beyond Man and Time' is a concept album ( each song represents a character, who himself represents a specific philosophy of ideology) motivates a more fluent run of the tracks.

As far as specific songs go, some of the best include the lively 'the Ugliest Man in The World', the more pondering 'We Are What We Are', which has the most amazing keyboard solo of the album, the epic sixteen minute track 'The Fisherman', the polymorphic beast of the LP, or the more groovy and straightforward 'The Shadow'. The album comes near to being a fantastic release: next time, perhaps the band should make something a bit shorter, since this record does run for about 80 minutes. Despite that, the listen is thoroughly entertaining; there's only to hope that the band soon puts out their masterpiece.

EatThatPhonebook | 4/5 |

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