SCRATCHING AT THE SURFACE

An excellent album of prog rock/metal music. The particularity of this album (and maybe the others, I don't have listen to them yet..) is the compositions. The songs doesn't sound like a true prog band. Melodies have strange sonority, modulations. Well, it is the Event sound. the rythms are not so prog but the complexity of compositions and chorus and melody create a special ambience. You must try it to know.

Indie-pendant of prog

After the decent if rather unfocused prog metal leanings of their 1998 debut, Boston band Event released their follow up album "Human condition" to mixed reviews in 2001. Two years later this, their latest album to date, appeared.

While there is undoubtedly an element of sophistication on "Scratching at the surface" which was missing from the debut, this comes at the expense of originality. When listening to this album, I cannot help but feel I have heard it all before from the plethora of bands who ply the indie pop rock market. This could be Nickelback, it could be Green Day, or it could be the many mini-me's of those bands who appear consecutively on MTV2.

The songs are all around the 3-4 minute mark, being simplistic indie pop numbers with an element of ambition in the arrangements. The sound invariably comprises of the gruff vocals of Dave DeLuco backed by the heavy riffs of Shaun Michaud. In prog terms, I struggle to find anything of that nature whatsoever.

As for quality of the music in indie terms, I do not really feel qualified to offer any incisive commentary. It seems to me that if you enjoy music of that genre, this is a well performed and well recorded album of songs of a reasonable quality, so I would assume it will appeal to those of that persuasion.

For those visiting this site in the hope of discovering some hidden gems of prog, this album does not even "Scratch the surface".

Third album for this extremelly talented American band with quite an unique way of expressing their musical ideas in the prog metal or rock direction!After a sensational debut album ELECTRIC SKIES,which had the effect of a bomb for me,EVENT confirmed with HUMAN CONDITION and now with this third effort they prove thet a personal style was found,but it's absolutelly necessary to bring something new in their musical display!Dave Deluco has an interesting voice and he really can sing,but sometimes is necessary a better vocal modulation,because the risk of some monotony of the songs can appear,and the lack of diversity is one of the major minus for EVENT!SHAUN KICHAUD is a phenomenal guiitar player,but the true solos are almost missing on SCRATCHING AT THE SURFACE!In fact ELECTRIC SKIES was the most progressive album,where some technical wizzardries were simply breathtaking and the compositions were well defined together with some instrumental tracks where the guys simply explode!!Album after album EVENT tried to simplify the things,and I am afraid that's not good!They need a kick or a push from the back and I honestly don't know what happened sonce 2003 when this album was released?!?!7 years now in 2010 since SCRATCHING TO THE SURFACE has been released ....unbelieveble how quick the time is passing by...and no sign from them,maybee EVENT has disbanded and that is a shame,because they had a huge potential,just the compositions were too simplistic sometimes!3 STARS for a mediocre album overall!

This is the third album from Boston-based outfit Event, and in many ways is quite a hard thing to try and describe. They obviously come from a prog background but are mixing and moulding it with loads of other styles and tricks, some of which are down to the production and the way that they treat the vocals. Looking at the bands they have played with doesn't give that much of a clue as while some of them are label-mates, they are quite diverse (Porcupine Tree, Tony Levin, Planet X, Spock's Beard, Dokken etc). The band that for some reason I kept thinking of was Faith No More but these guys sound nothing like that; it is just the attitude and the way of throwing it all in the pot.

All of the guys are great musicians, of course, but Dave Deluco is a star. The label compares his style with Gary Cherrone, but to me his register is slightly lower but there is no doubting that the guy can really sing, and the band play to that strength. The music is designed to keep the vocals at the forefront, no matter what chaos or weird stuff is going on in the background. In many ways this is one of the more commercial of Inside Out's releases yet at the same time it is also totally out of left field so it does take quite a lot of listening to. The rewards are great as it is an album of great depth but unless you put in the time you will not get the benefit. Strange, but good.

Originally appeared in Feedback #73, Jun 03