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THE IMPOSSIBLE LEAP IN ONE HUNDRED SIMPLE STEPS

From Monument to Masses

Post Rock/Math rock


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From Monument to Masses The Impossible Leap in One Hundred Simple Steps album cover
3.15 | 6 ratings | 4 reviews | 0% 5 stars

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Studio Album, released in 2003

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Sharpshooter (8:51)
2. From the Mountains to the Prairies (8:58)
3. Quiet Before (2:55)
4. Spice Must Flow (7:52)
5. Comrades and Friends (4:06)
6. Old Robes (8:09)
7. To Z (Repeat) (6:48)

Line-up / Musicians

- Francis Choung / drums, synth, programming
- Sergio Robledo-Moderazo / bass, synth, samples
- Mathew Solberg / guitar, guitar loops

Releases information

Information not available at present, if you can help with the details, please contact the site

Thanks to chamberry for the addition
and to Joolz for the last updates
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FROM MONUMENT TO MASSES The Impossible Leap in One Hundred Simple Steps ratings distribution


3.15
(6 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(0%)
0%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(33%)
33%
Good, but non-essential (50%)
50%
Collectors/fans only (17%)
17%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

FROM MONUMENT TO MASSES The Impossible Leap in One Hundred Simple Steps reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by chamberry
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars You said you wanted more rock and you got it.

From Monument To Masses is a band that mixes some interesting influences (politically and musically) into their sound. In the end they come up sounding like a more rock oriented post-rock band or maybe even a prog oriented post-rock band. This is one of the rare cases when bands from the genre leave the simplicity behind and really experiment with time signatures and truly rock out.

These guys take their political ideas front and center and aren't afraid to show them just like Godspeed or A Silver Mt. Zion. To be honest those two bands do it in a way that I doesn't sound forced or tiring, but sadly From Monument To Masses aren't like that and in many times it can get frustrating when one isn't in the right frame of mind or mood. Aside from the political side of the band the other side, the musical one, is great and fun to listen to. They are complex without being hard to listen to and they can get pretty groovy at times thanks to their Dub and Hip-hop influenced bass lines. Their strong sense of melody coming from their post-rock side is also a mayor factor in their accessibility. Their aggressiveness is also shown In "The Spice Must Flow" and "Old Robes" with their hardcore influences and screaming vocals. I must note out that these are just short parts of the songs and they're mostly an instrumental act. All three player are well trained at their respective instrument, but they do work as a team and they never show off. The sound is tight and well played. The songs in general are mostly long around the 6-7 minute length. There aren't any climaxes here, though so don't wait for them, but there aren't any ambient parts either. Their like a standard rock band (whatever that means) with one foot in post-rock and another in prog and their fingers in several other genres and bands.

From Monument to Masses play a fun and enjoyable batch of complex and groovy "post-rock". If you don't mind listening to politically obsessed music and sound clips in middle of songs then you won't have a problem enjoying From Monument To Masses. Their interesting sound will appeal to many people if they get a chance to give them a try.

3.7 or almost 4 stars.

Review by Prog-jester
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars FMTM plays very powerful kind of Post-Rock, usually mid-tempo, well-structured, with obvious Math-Rock hints and political background, which is expressed in samples from TV and radio programs. This is what speaks against the band, IMHO, because unlike in GY!BE/ASMZ case here these ideas don't create a harmony with music but only ruin some atmosphere already created by this music itself. But for me, as a non-English speaker, it's pretty easy to turn my English knowledge off to fully enjoy the music side of the record. FMTM are a trio, and their sound and manner are pretty much like another trio have - I mean RUSSIAN CIRCLES whom I happened to experience before FMTM. The same way heavy, almost bordering Metal, groovy and memoralbe, with some catchy tunes and tracks ranging from 5 to 8 minutes, The Impossible Leap... is not just another good guitar-driven Post-Rock record...but in the same time not a cornerstone for the genre. Below average (even despite these sometimes annoying samples) and definitely worthy. 3.5 stars. RECOMMENDED!!!
Review by octopus-4
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams
4 stars After having loved "On Little Known Frequency" I've found an used copied of this "Impossible Leap". Their personal style shows to be already a band's trademark even with the screamed vocals (not growl, just scream) which almost disapeeared in the two further studio releases to be replaced by speeches. Speech is in any case already present with the strong political contents narrated over a post-rock base with some little hints of Grunge here and there.

Nothing to do with Seattle, their post-rock reminds me, as well as their other albums, to a band that I quite loved in the 80s: the "Felt", at least in the most relaxed and acoustic parts.

"Shapeshooter" is an "unstructured" track, in the sense that it doesn't follow the usual song structure but it's neither a suite or a patchwork of different things as sometimes happens in prog. There's not much "circularity" but the various different pieces are a natural progression. There are no detached moments or fillers or interludes. This is a track which starts in a way and end in a different one.

"From the Mountains to the Prairies" is unstructured as well, but on this track I perceive the "patchwork" effect as the transitions are not very smooth. One remarkable thing is how musically skilled the trio is. Pay attention to the funky-like bass line. The third section of this track, the slow one with a nice guitar harping, releaxed drums and a good bass work fits very well with the speeches and after the words, I still think to "Red Indians" by Felt. The two tracks are very different, it's the mood which is similar. Relistening better, the only rude transition is the first, that makes it effectively more similar in the "unstructure" to the opener.

The short "Quiet Before" could have been joined to the previous track as it fades into this one. The eight guitar chords on which it's based are hypnotic, while the bass changes them into different chords (minors, sevenths and so on) and the drums overcome in the final part leading it to the end fading into "Spice Must Flow". A bluesy track in major chords on which the speech fits very well. The lazy rhythm is transformed by the odd signature brought in by the bass and later by the drum accents. It becomes darker in the second half when even some growl, or better, hard scream appears. Then a repetitive guitar riff is brought into chaos by a drum crescendo. I think it's the best album's track (but it's mainly because I like dark things).

"Comrades And Friends" is driven by a repetitive guitar sequence and a lazy rhythm. A very relaxing song.

On "Old Robes" we can see all the power of a trio. The guitar playing a repetitive part which acts both as main theme and rhythmic base, but without subtracting anything from the bass and drums duties. As in the other tracks the speeches fit very well with the slow parts, like the music is put a little in the background to give room and relevance to the speech, then when it's finished a more intense and rhythmated part arrives. In particular, the way guitar is played in this section makes me think to early Wishbone Ash. There's a similar playing on Pilgrimage even though I don't remember exactly on which track (or may it be on Argus?). There's more circularity on this track to demonstrate that when FMTM want to make something structured, they are able to. It has impressed me the fact that when the keyboard enters the bass is not playing. It means that there's no overdubbing and everything is "really" played. It also mean that the band can perform on live with the same quality of the studio versions without the need of additional players on stage.

There's no transition from that to the closer "To Z". On this track there's a bit of electronic drums, in the beginning, while the bass has I think a bit of chorus. This is the track on which more room is given to bass, however the ensemble works very well and all the things are well integrated.So it's not a trio like Emerson Lake and Power, which sometimes was a keyboard player and two guest (even if great) musicians.

As Overall, this album is as good as their last and the rating I give to it is the same as that.

Latest members reviews

2 stars 1st June, 2021: From Monument to Masses - The Impossible Leap in One Hundred Simple Steps (post-rock, 2003) I have to say I struggled with this, there's just something so offputting about how obnoxiously self-righteous this is. Basically, it's B-Grade math rock with a bunch of pseudo-political ... (read more)

Report this review (#2695093) | Posted by Gallifrey | Wednesday, February 23, 2022 | Review Permanlink

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