DE PROFUNDIS

The main theme De Profundis is one of the best progressive songs in '90s. Here the band put the best, but the whole album is extremely interesting. Listener will find chamber music mixtured with some KING CRIMSON atmospheres, experimental tunes and beautiful landscapes, eventually close to jazz or classical or folk music (in "De Profundis" track, I can hear also some influences from PIAZZOLA's modern tango!). The final piece, the short "A Vilag Vegen" (female incredibly sweet voice), close the stuff with an unusual beauty. This is, maybe, AFTER CRYING most complex work, and one of their best. Another very good album.

Although I have not heard everything from them ( and neither do i wish to ) I think and have been told by friends too that this is their better works . Well OK now , but then this is not bad at all but definitely is over-rated and when I saw the band on stage I was confirmed by what I saw and heard . Very talented classily trained musician like there must be a ton in place like Hungary and Austria who try to make a living by playing rock and do a correct job but really, Do they have anything original to say ?

Hungarian classical rock blending orchestral movements with that of rock. "De Profundis" is a highly original and creative album which draws parallels in many ways to the output of early KING CRIMSON. As usual "AFTER CRYING" utilize a vast array of instrumentation to create their musical atmospheres (cello, tuba, violin, oboe, clarinet, flute....). One of the most striking elements in their music which I love is the mix of electric guitar with classical instrumentation. Their tones are warm and colorful and their music is highly creative and full of imagination. Although a good chunk of "De Profundis" is instrumental, vocals are scattered throughout. Songs are sung in native Hungarian which are very well done. The intro to the album opens with a grand angelic-like prayer "Bevezetes" which I find absolutely haunting to this day. "De Profundis" contains some simply amazing musicianship and is beautiful music through and through. A Great progressive discovery for your speakers.

Wonderfull stuff, even though a few defects could make it deserve an inferior score,by erasing an half star at least. In fact this is the best example of chamber progressive rock with dark moods, for this album expanding the music ideas of "Overground music" in a fantastic way...nevertheless, as I like to be honest,in my opinion the Hungarian vocals sometimes are boring, despite of recognizing such an elegant kind of tribute to "Island" by King Crimson, along with a sense of incompleteness, which begins emerging, but anyway in a very few circumstances only...their best moments are unforgettable, also during their stunning executions live, and to me that's enough to make it a recommended album in every prog collection!!

Despite its title, this fourth release by AFTER CRYING is anything but depressing. The music is at times mellow (almost chamber like), at other times wild and crazy. To give you an idea as to what they sound like, think folk, classical, jazz and a heavy dose of KING CRIMSON + ELP all mixed together.

The album starts off with some haunting Gregorian chant and heavy-bass church organ (very spooky stuff), then hops off into a multitude of genres. The track which I find stands out is the 12-minute epic "Stalker"; it somehow makes you feel as if you're watching a Hitchcock movie... It builds up ever so slowly, explodes into musical fireworks and ends eerily, with the rythmic/hypnotic sound of a passing train and its wheels (ka-clunck, ka-clunck) trailing off into the night. The whole album is a dazzling musical merry-go-round and ends with an unexpected but most charming Hungarian folk song, beautifully rendered by a female vocalist.

Although we often use the word 'classical' to describe AFTER CRYING's musical influence, it rocks high and mighty and you can trust me on this: you don't have to be a classics afficionado to enjoy it.

Obviously the sole After Crying wich is worth listening. But after all, the album seems perpetually to wonder on wich direction to go next, and even if some passages have all the potential to keep any Prog addict's attention (the few introspective guitar episodes), one should ask what it is so fundamentaly new to their music to make it as big as their reputation is ? The answer is nothing at all - thanks for asking - and After Crying suffers, as so many new comers in prog, of the overall rave that too many prog reviewers systematically fall into when something - or should i say anything ? - comes out. All and all, a decent album (i found "A Vilag Vegen" very pleasant indeed), but as the album's title suggests, it should remain in the abyss.

After many listens, it's now time for me to say what I think. To be brief, I cannot recommend this record to an impatient listener. You know, the person who prefers a clicking, snappy, more superficial almost commercial sound. This is light years away from the Threshold/Spock's Beard/Arena new school. But After Crying is a relatively newcomer.

But they do it in the real progressive way, the school of Dvorak, Bartok or Beethoven: the dark, romantic, classical way. And it sounds like ANYTHING I've heard before. It's a soundtrack tailor-made for Alfred Hitchcock. Deep with emotions, rich of dozen of different textures, a true motion picture soundtrack in itself.

Could we name some influences? Naahh. Honestly, we could state Keith Emerson on track 12, but that's far as I could name some. And IT'S GREAT!! These extremely talented fellows are what progressive rock's lacking most: creativity, innovation and freshness. So much stuff sounds outdated although it's been out recently.

Kiddy ears, please stay away from this hard-to-get record. This ain't for FM afficionados but more for tragic classical/chamber music lovers. Those who feel ready and tolerates motion picture soundtrack porgression-style, go for it.

A challenging but rewarding experience.

3.5 stars. This is a record you really need to "listen" to in order to appreciate both the talent and complexities that are offered. There is a lot of variety on this album and the band members are given space to show their skills. In fact some are given whole songs to shine. Such as the cello play throughout "Stonehenge" that is amazing, or the guitar melodies during "Kifulladasig", excellent ! The piano melodies throughout "Kisyasut" are so beautiful. Check out the vocal melodies in the opening song "Bevezetes" that sound so good.

These classically trained musicians reveal their roots in "Modern I Dok" while there is a folk feel to the final tune "A Vilag Vegen" with female vocals. The song "Stalker" is the epic with mood and tempo changes galore. Opening with the gong, followed by percussion and synths.This song goes from pastoral (words and flute) to a wall of sound, and the last two minutes are beautiful. "Kulvarosi ej" has such a gorgeous soundscape. The title song "De Profundis" is such a highlight as well with flute,piano and good vocals.

If your into Classical music you really owe it to yourself to check out AFTER CRYING.

This is not my favorite After Crying album. It is one of the first I ever heard, and at the time the majesty of its chamber and choral vocals; orchestral arrangements; and really even the meaty heft of the packaging marked this as something special. But then I discovered the band’s back catalog and quickly learned that this offering pales in comparison to ‘Overground Music’ and especially ‘Megalázottak és Megszomorítottak’. Its still an outstanding album, just not up to the very high standard set by the first two records these guys put out.

A few adjustments from the ‘Overground Music’ debut are clearly apparent and welcome. The heavy-tongued vocals have been toned down a bit and lead vocalist Tamas Gorgenyi even manages to sound melodic on occasion. There is also an expanded emphasis on accompanying vocals from other band members, as well as female and choral backing. Someone has clearly explained to the band that this was their most obvious weakness on the first few albums. Another direction they could have gone was toward more instrumental music and moved away from vocals altogether, but this works as well.

The other change is with the guitar, played by Torma Ferenc. The guitar was introduced in the band’s third album and plays a more prominent role here. The result is that the music tends to sounds a bit less like a chamber recital and more like something that was done in a recording studio and not a concert hall. That’s okay I guess, but there’s something about the first couple albums that makes me imagine dusty backstage halls and a heavy red curtain and polished brass handrails as the audience moves quietly to their pre-assigned seats for the performance. That’s kind of lost here, and After Crying become more of an experimental/post-rock sounding band that just happens to have some serious musical credentials and high quality chops. It’s a nuance, but an important one for me.

A few tracks stand out from the pack. “Stalker” features guitar prominently and is one of (if not the) heaviest works the band has done to-date. “Stonehenge” features an almost orgasmic angular and captivating cello solo that is unlike anything you’ll find anywhere else in progressive music – a definite must-hear if you are interested in this band at all.

“Esküszegõk” is a really interesting arrangement because it has the basic type of repetitive progression pattern that so many post-rock and math bands have made their careers on; but the buildup to the climax is so subtle and complex that it takes a number of replays before you realize that is what’s going on. This may in fact be the strongest track on the album from a purely musical standpoint.

Then among the various short vignettes that are beautiful but not particularly memorable, comes the title track. I have to say that I was a little disappointed hearing this one. Granted, the bar for these guys is extremely high because they are capable of such great music. But this composition relies too heavily on vocals in the beginning and ends up sounding more like something Andrew Lloyd Webber would have written. In the middle the vocals disappear, but the featured flute does do enough to hold the passage for the strings. I wonder if the flute could have played behind the strings instead of being showcased, and the whole "Jecisti me in profund..." would have been a lot stronger. I’m not a musician, but this seems like an idea that would have been worth exploring. And the vocals come back at the end but they’re in Hungarian so the power the closing could have had is lessened somewhat for many listeners.

I love this band, and haven’t heard anything from them yet that isn’t as good as or better than just about any other progressive music being made today. But this isn’t as strong as some of their other albums, and as such probably only merits three stars. If these guys were most bands this would be their pinnacle. But After Crying are not most bands. Well recommended, but if you can only buy one After Crying album don’t make it this one.

peace

"De Profundis" is After Crying's fourth album which was not much different in style with their previous three albums. This might seem like a survival album after the main composer Csaba Vedres laft the band. For me personally, the music of After Crying resembles an image of excellent crafts represented by neat arrangements of churning violin and cello, as well as horn section. You might have considered the band has been heavily influenced by King Crimson but it's quite different one in another way because in most of King Crimson album there. If you are familiar with After Crying albums, you might be wondering why this album lacks melodies as well of haunting atmosphere through out the album. This is not the kind of music your mind can easily follow.

Enjoying this album is not an easy ride for me at all. It starts quite hard for me to digest and discern the messages that the band was trying to make. In a sense, this is a concept album reputedly about a dying gangster looking back at his life. It is also a realization of the symphonic sound that was formulating in the second half of Föld és ég. I believe that it was a tough call for the band on how they should compose the music at this album, especially knowing that the composer left the band.

The opening track "Bevezetes" (3:39) sets the overall tone of the album with female choirs which remind me to the music of Enigma. The soft keyboard work at background creates good texture of the music. "Modern Idök" (7:36) sounds like free-form translation of symphonic and classical music with great string sections and powerful horn section. This trademark has become a unique characteristic of After Crying. Look at Manok Tanca (5:00) which works really well.

Overall, this is an album that at first spin you should pay attention to the music until you find of value of segments that you think are great. Even though the art work reminds me to the art work of Lizard (King Crimson) I presume that this is not on purpose.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

In spite of myself, I made a smile for 3A play (an avantgarde, active and aggressive play) of this album.

By dark chorus, the show opens calmly. Depressive spoken-words follow after that, and remarkably avantgarde piano beats and makes core of the show. Over the album strings and piano mix and intertwine with each other, and then gloomy voice's inserted and invaded, at last the show rushes to the end dramatically...

Indeed, listening to the whole album I realize the meaning of the show and the thought of the artist, but regretfully for me the gloomy words are not so good...I wonder the words are Hungarian and I'm overwhelmed by the darkness and the depressiveness. At any rate, this album let me know the impression and the heavy taste of Hungarian Progressive rock. Bravo!

AFTER CRYING's de Profundis is a monumental work of art. With it's small pieces intended to display the skill and artistry of its individual members, I am reminded of YES's Fragile. Yet, as so many reviewers have noted, there are definite signs of the influence of Robert Fripp and Keith Emerson. Most predominant, however, are the deep and rich traditions of Hungarian classical and folk music. As with many "Eastern European" music traditions, we "Westerners" sometimes have some difficulty hearing the 'beauty' or getting used to the 'melodies' of these musics. That is why repeated listening, attentive headphone listening, and background listening are all important--to, if you will, immerse oneself or imbue oneself in these sounds and textures. Such has been the educative approach which has led to last night's 'breakthrough.' It all makes sense. It is truly beautiful, powerful, albeit, at times, complicated music. With two short songs being among the most hauntingly beautiful songs I've EVER heard, I knew I had to keep listening to the rest of this music. I now champion five songs from this album to be included among the pantheon of all-time 'classics.' The first is the first song on the album:

1. "Bevezetés." A female choir chanting angelically from within a chapel/cathedral setting over an organ. Beautiful arrangement. 10/10

2. "Modern Idök" is an orchestral behemoth with very theatric male voice singing in Hungarian. 8/10

3. "Az üstökös." A beautiful piano rondo. 9/10

4. "Stalker" is one of the album's two epics, clocking in at over 12 minutes. Beginning with a very ominous rolling bass line accompanied by sporadic percussion and percussive guitar playing and strings until 2:20 when brass and woodwinds join in. At 2:50 an electric guitar takes over, playing over a fairly standard rock beat & rhythm section until gradually joined by the brass playing a very PHILLIP GLASS-like rolling part. The 4:55 mark sees a winding down to a quiet section: bells, organ, light cymbol play, and spoken word carry on until at 6:55 when a flute takes over with an airy melody. Then, just as you're lulled to sleep, all hell breaks loose at the 7:55 mark. Very CRIMSON-esque "Red"-like until the 9:23 mark when it just as suddenly stops. Instead, a FRIPP-like guitar solo struggles within its sadness and melancholy while a distant organ and the sound of a train traveling on its tracks serves as its only background. Amazing song! 9/10

5. "Stonehenge" is a rather uninteresting cello solo not unlike some KRONOS QUARTET pieces. 6/10

6. "Külvárosi éj" is one of the most stunningly beautiful, creative instrumental pieces I've ever encountered. Floating, shifting electric guitar arpeggios over which build tympani, cello, and trumpet into a weave of such intricacy and majesty--?! 10/10

7. "Manók tánca" is a chamber music song built around a piano which later engages a drum kit. 8/10

8. "Kifulladásig" contains an electric guitar playing in a kind of STANLEY JORDAN meets NARCISO YPES style. Not unlike something ROBERT FRIPP would do. It does have a quite beautiful mid-section sounding more like BRUCE COCKBURN beginning at the 2:00 minute mark. 7/10

9. "De Profundis" is a four part epic of almost 12 minutes. The first part has a very medieval, chamber music feel--complete with minstrel-like vocals--while later adding piano. At the 5:00 minute mark, section b. slows down the piano, bassoon, flute, cello--having a very GENESIS feel to it. Section C presents a MIKE OLDFIELD sounding guitar solo until at 9:55 we have a return to the beginning format and vocal. Wonderful song! Very pastoral and accessible. 9/10

10. "Jónás imája" begins a series of short pieces with one longer piece (the 8 minute "Esküszegök") in the middle. Like "Fragile," these pieces seem to serve mostly to showcase the individual talents or experimental song structures of the group. This one contains a storytelling over electric bass harmonic arpeggios. 6/10

11. "Elveszett város" contains oboe playing over a chamber orchestra. 6/10

12. "Kisrasút" is a piano piece done in an almost DON PULLEN-plays-Ragtime fashion. 7/10

13. Esküszegök" Very CRIMSON-esque electric rock band until the third section when brass and woodwinds are added. 6/10

14. 40 masodperc" is 40 seconds of street noises and organ.

15. A világ végén" A female voice singing over SUPERTRAMP-like keyboard, joined later by bassoon, then flutes with synthesized strings, then oboe. 7/10

Giving this innovative and very progressive yet far-from-perfect album anything less than "Masterpiece" status is really difficult for me. Kind of like getting used to GENTLE GIANT: it requires persistence and appreciation for the mathematical possibility of musical dimensions. Yet, most everyone agrees on the genius and virtuosity of GG. Were the same numbers able (or willing) to access AFTER CRYING, there might be greater appreciation for them.

In the catholic liturgy, "De Profundis" is a penitential psalm. Literally it means "From the deep" and is a lament which asks for God's mercy. This is different from any other album of this eclectic and skillful band. It's probably the darkest thing that they released.

"Bevezetes" (Introduction) is a chant in Gregorian style accompanied by an organ only. There's a mainstream band called "Enigma" that had a huge success in the 90s by adding disco rhythms to this kind of music. In this case, without disco contaminations, I think this is close to the compositions of Arvo Part. A very promising opener. Hallelujah!

"Modern Idök" (Modern Times) is orchestral and seems to be inspired by Aaron Copland, or to Keith Emerson who was inspired by Aaron Copland. Probably the second, as the vocalist, even if not comparable to Greg Lake for his voice sings on similar melodies. Who like "Piano Concerto #1" or ELP Works in general will like also this song. There's a spoken part in the middle. Unfortunately it's in hungarian so I have no idea of what it's about, but it sounds very nicely with the chaotic orchestra in the background only the names of a lot of big cities and words like "gangsters" and "telephones" are intelligible for me.

"Az Üstökös" (The Comet) is a short piano solo. A very nice one that's clearly influenced by Emerson in the "idea", but not too much in the composition and in the execution.

"Stalker" is the first real highlight. A dark track that fits well in the definition. if one exist, of progressive. Bass and percussion in the foreground and keyboards in the background fill the first two minutes of this long track. Then the orchestral instruments (brasses and strings) make it even darker until the electric guitar finally launches the main theme. Uptime, with odd signatures it proceeds in crescendo, then stops and restarts. The structure is symphonic, let's call it a short symphony. Extremely dark, specially when deadly bells are left alone with the organ to give room to the speaker again. After the spoken part the bass restarts playing the initial theme but there's a lot of noise now. Electric guitar and orchestra follow the drums in a noisy crescendo that stops only with the rumor of a train. Then organ and guitar. I'd really like to know what the lyrics are about.

A cello opens "Stonehenge". Does anybody know Quintorigo? This is a piece on which the cello plays the role of bass and guitar at the same time. A virtuoso performance full of rock.

"Külvarosi Ej" (Night in the Suburbs) opens with tambourine and guitar which give accompaniment to the cello followed by the trumpet. The theme is very sad. Cello and trumpet make it even more sad and dark.

"Manok Tanca" (Dance of the gnomes) has the cello in evidence as on Stonehenge, but this time piano and bass make it a bit lighter with some relations to Emerson while a madrigal/medieval influence can be identified as well. In the middle part it becomes uptime and reminds to Gershwin.

Rain and guitar open "Kifulladasig" (Breathless). The guitar solo is incredible. It's of the kind that one has to concentrate on in order to realize that he's listening to only one guitar. Amazing.

The title track is the closest to the usual After Crying's music, I think to Overnight Music, even proceeding on the dark athmospheres of the album. The piano here sounds more like Wakeman than Emerson. The vocals are more melodic and soft. I don't think it's the same singer of the second track. If I'm wrong he has a very eclectic voice. Symphonic proggers, this is for you! After five minutes the vocals stop and what follows is an instrumental of a kind that I didn't hear since the times of The Snow Goose (the B side).

"Jonas Imaja" (Jonas Prayer) starts with guitar harmonics. The speaker is back. It's maybe the prayer of the title, however the music behind is soft and dreamy but dark at the same time. It gives me the sensation of the instants before falling asleep.

There is continuty between this track and "Elveszett Varos" (Lost City), at least in the mood.

" Kisvasut " (Light Railway) is totally different instead. It's a piano solo that doesn't pay tributes to Emerson or Wakeman or any other famous one. It's just a great short composition of a very skilled pianist with some contacts with Gershwin.

" Esküszegök" (Perjurer) is more close to ELP but it's full of eclectism. Dark and symphonic with connection to the Russian composers of the 19th century in some parts until it becomes jazzy thanks to the bass and an incredible electric guitar which plays 64th until it's replaced by the keyboard so a guitar riff can take place, then it returns to be symphonic and orchestral. The Lake-like vocals are an excellent closure of this quite epic track.

The following track, "40 Masodperc" means 40 seconds, that's exactly its duration. Just noises (a highway? a train?) closed by an organ chord.

Immediately after, the girl who sings on the first track sings one of the most melodic and less dark songs of the album, unfortunately the last one. "A Vilag Vegen" means "At The End of the World" and it's a great closer.

There are very good tracks that taken alone are excellent but none is a masterpiece. The album can be considered a masterpiece in its entirety as a single thing, instead. I am tempted to give it the maximum rating but I think that it's honestly suitable for 4.