Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Garden - Garden CD (album) cover

GARDEN

Garden

Progressive Metal


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Bookmark and Share
aapatsos
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Garden are a relatively new band, coming out of Scotland and released their first self-titled EP in December 2012 via their bandcamp page. Whilst categorised, and self-promoted, as progressive metal, the music of Garden uses progressive metal only as a basis to express the versatility and variety of influences of their music.

'Garden' is a 3-track EP of less than half an hour with average track duration of 9 minutes. During these 27 or so minutes, elements of folk, jazz, eclectic, orchestral progressive music come to surface via a progressive metal guitar driven background. Simply "symphonic progressive metal" would be an unfair tag to describe the Celtic sounds and the use of an almost full orchestra comprising mandolin, flute, violin, cello, clarinet etc.

"Composite Queen" is the opener of this short EP and, in my opinion, it is the highlight and shows what this band can achieve. An ultimately lyrical, eclectic and dynamic track, incorporating a very theatrical singing pattern (reminding of Arcturus at times) and accompanied by constant piano and violin power chords. Midway through the folksy influences appear in the form of a beautiful flute solo building to a power/progressive metal tune. "North" is quite more down-tempo, melodic and dramatic, very reminiscent of Shadow Gallery's best moments with Mike Baker on vocals. Half-way through it turns to a more eclectic/symphonic prog piece in the vein of Anglagard, while the saxophone solo introduces a more melancholic atmosphere. "Freya's Song" kicks off with a guitar/violin duet and in due course mixes all the above elements with a full blast of orchestral instruments and Bradley singing in the most intense manner.

The compositional element of this EP reaches perfection: a plethora of influences, instruments and sounds combined in a very intense manner (at times even overwhelming for the listener), producing a very original sound, even though the influences are recognisable. Where the album lacks is mainly the production (mixing of instruments and drum sound problematic), and also the execution of vocal lines and complex structures - I feel that at times, Garden have made the compositions too challenging to execute, without implying that they are not capable of doing so. Bearing in mind these flaws, I can still say that this EP is a challenging and intriguing experience for any prog music fan. This is really unique prog music and 4 stars are deserved. Watch this space.

Report this review (#900789)
Posted Monday, January 28, 2013 | Review Permalink

GARDEN Garden ratings only


chronological order | showing rating only
  • 2 stars ProgShine (Diego Camargo) COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
  • 2 stars mbzr48 (Mayer More)

Post a review of GARDEN Garden


You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.