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V

Brighteye Brison

Eclectic Prog


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Brighteye Brison V album cover
3.71 | 69 ratings | 5 reviews | 21% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

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Studio Album, released in 2019

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. The Crest of Quarrel (12:32)
2. V (17:28)
3. The Magician Chronicles - Part II (36:54)

Total Time 66:54

Line-up / Musicians

- Johan Öijen / guitar
- Linus Kåse / piano, synth, saxophone, vocals
- Per Hallman / organ, Mellotron, clavinet, synth, vocals
- Kristofer Eng / bass, theremin, vocals
- Erik Hammarström / drums

Releases information

CD Bad Elephant Music ‎- BEM069 (2019, UK)

Digital album

Thanks to mbzr48 for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
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BRIGHTEYE BRISON V ratings distribution


3.71
(69 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(21%)
21%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(41%)
41%
Good, but non-essential (29%)
29%
Collectors/fans only (6%)
6%
Poor. Only for completionists (3%)
3%

BRIGHTEYE BRISON V reviews


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

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by kev rowland
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Reviewer
4 stars It has been quite a while since I last heard anything by this Swedish band, so long ago that they are in Volume 1 of my books containing my reviews from 1991-2006, when I reviewed their second album 'Stories' and raved over it. This is their fifth release, as one may have guessed, and in the last 13 years there has just been the one line-up change with drummer Erik Hammarström replacing Daniel Kåse. The rest of the line-up is still Linus Kåse (piano, electric grand, synthesizers, saxophones, vocals), Per Hallman (organ, Mellotron, clavinet, synthesizers, vocals), Kristofer Eng Radjabi (bass, Taurus, Theremin, vocals, synths) and Johan Öijen (guitars). Yes, you read that right, two keyboard players with the welcome use of not only piano and organ but also a Mellotron, while there is also a Theremin being used (and it can easily be heard at certain points, being musical as opposed to just creating a noise).

Multi-layered, with vocal harmonies being an essential major part of their music, it would be easy for one to believe this is over-egged and can become too sickly, but the guitar cuts through when the time is right (both as an acoustic and powering electric). There are just three songs on the album but given the shortest is more than 12 minutes in length, and the longest well in excess of half an hour, there is never any danger of feeling short changed. Complex and complicated, yet somehow also incredibly entertaining and enjoyable from the very first listen, this is a superb release. I remember 'Stories' making a big impact on me and I do wish I hadn't lost touch over the years, but this is a real return to form. It may have been eight years since their last album, 'The Magician Chronicles - Part I', but they have announced they are back with a bang. Their last three albums were all on Progress Records, which I don't think is active anymore since the sad passing of founder Hansi Cross in August 2017, but in Bad Elephant they have found a new home. Let's hope it isn't so long until the next one, as symphonic, layered, beautifully arranged yet still rocky music like this deserves to be heard.

Review by patrickq
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars I've heard this group compared to Yes and Genesis, but to me they sound more like Kansas or Starcastle, albeit with Yes and Genesis aspirations. And it's for this reason - - the group's conscious and transparent channeling of 1970s symphonic-prog bands - - that I'd classify V as neo-prog.

Although Brighteye Brison imitates the sound of 1970s Genesis and Yes, only a few specific passages of V strike me as directly derivative. In this sense the band is more like Kansas than Starcastle. The originality here is largely constrained to original twists on the classic symphonic sound, especially on the thirty-seven-minute (!) 'The Magician Chronicles - Part II.' At 3:13 on that track, for example, the song moves out of an energetic opening, closely resembling the 'Waiting for the Sun' by the Doors, into an acoustic-guitar-led vocal movement even more closely resembling the first verse of Yes's 'Machine Messiah.' Soon an analog- sounding synth noodles over the guitar, ā la Yes's 'And You And I.' Later there's a piano part reminding me of the the verse of Styx's 'The Best of Times.' But most of 'The Magician Chronicles - Part II' more indirectly reflects Brighteye Brison's influences. For example, several instrumental sections echo Genesis, while several vocal parts bear a passing resemblance to Asia.* But to be fair, if this track is a pastiche of classic styles, it's a very creative pastiche, skillfully executed.

Despite its length, though, 'The Magician Chronicles - Part II' isn't really a single, cohesive work; to use another Yes comparison, it's a series of related songs with distinct beginnings and endings, like Side A of Fly From Here - - not a long-form suite like 'The Gates of Delirium.' There's evidently a detailed storyline going on here, but I couldn't find the lyrics online, and no liner notes accompanied my (electronic) copy of the album. (There is a Part I, by the way, constituted by the three songs on the band's prior album.) Unlike the five songs that comprise the 'Fly From Here' suite, the pieces of 'The Magician Chronicles - Part II' sometimes seem to be sequenced randomly, and some of the repetition appears to add little more than length.

The other two pieces on V, 'The Crest of Quarrel' and the title track, are cut from the same cloth, although each is a bit more original, and, at twelve and seventeen minutes respectively, they're more focused than 'The Magician Chronicles - Part II.'

In all, V is an enjoyable album, even if wears its influences on its metaphorical sleeve, and even if its centerpiece is a bit overlong. I'll bet that neo-prog fans will appreciate this one as much as will eclectic-prog aficionados.

*as much as I feel that, in general, Brighteye Brison is reflecting 1970s progressive rock, the specific examples I'm reminded of actually range from the late 1960s through the early 1980s.

Latest members reviews

3 stars This Swedish quintet is one of the better examples of retro-prog. The sound is unashamedly rooted in 1970s giants like Yes and Genesis, and they remind me a lot of the better moments of Spock's Beard. The music is filled with lush synths and organ, and the guitar has a noticeably modern style of dis ... (read more)

Report this review (#2903184) | Posted by TheEliteExtremophile | Friday, March 31, 2023 | Review Permanlink

5 stars BRIGHTEYE BRISON is a Swedish group that was high on PROG foundations origins as GENESIS, ELP, YES, GENTLE GIANT (which I always read as much harm to their base despite his musical energy) and later Magellan or THE FLOWER KINGS. He also took more northern groups as influences ANEKDOTEN, Landber ... (read more)

Report this review (#2310409) | Posted by alainPP | Wednesday, January 29, 2020 | Review Permanlink

4 stars Brighteye Brison from Swden was founded in 2001 and released four studio-albums between 2003 and 2011. And now anno 2019, after 8 long years for the fans, here's the new album simply entitled V. I am only familiar with their third effort entitled Believers & Deceivers from 2008, so it took more ... (read more)

Report this review (#2203997) | Posted by TenYearsAfter | Sunday, May 19, 2019 | Review Permanlink

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