AFTER THE STORM

This doesn't impress me the way the follow up release did ("The Circle Of Madness"), but all the elements are here and there is a lot to like about this record. I think the most satisfying element of this album is the production. It really is flawless, the sounds are so crisp.

"Memory Station" has such a good intro of bass, guitar and drums. It all quietens down as vocals and piano come in.The vocals are fragile and warble a bit. The intensity returns along with soaring guitar and a keyboard solo. "Nobody's Perfect" features some brief outbursts of bass and drums. Lots of mood and tempo shifts as well as soaring guitar. "Sayana" is a mellow tune with piano to begin with. Soaring guitar 3 minutes in and check out the great bass playing as the drums pound away. "Cross Match" is an instrumental and one of my favourite songs on this album. The drumming is fantastic ! The drummer truly steals the show on this song.

"Symphonia" is a full sounding song with some good guitar throughout, and the vocals are well done. "If Someday" is another highlight for me. The drums and guitar sound so crisp.The melody 5 minutes in is so catchy, as well as the line he sings over and over "The children are singing in my head". Nice organ work as well. "Vision" opens with fragile vocals and piano. Lots of mood changes in this song as well as some bombastic passages. "After the Storm" the title track is an instrumental. Some beautiful piano melodies as drums pound away. There is a cool bass solo followed by a keyboard solo allowing the guys to stretch it out instrumentally. I have to say that the bass player is great, and he's all over this recording.

This is an enjoyable record that allows us to see the band in it's beginnings.

It often happens that the first album one obtains by a band becomes one's favourite. The reasons for this phenomenon might vary from the sentimental to the scientific. For instance, if one is moved enough to buy a second disk by a band, then likely one thinks highly enough of the first disk to make it hard to match. In addition, one might deliberately acquire one of the more highly regarded works of a band in the first place, which again becomes a tough act to follow. So much is this the case for this reviewer that I must note a blatant exception, in the form of Kaos Moon. Granted, over 2 decades and only 2 albums, the "group" is more of a pet project of Bernard Ouellette than anything else. I sought out their debut after rather enjoying "Circle of Madness". Once it entered the confines of my mobile CD player, it there resided for about 10 days and probably 12 full listens. Conclusion: it's all good, much of it great.

Take a healthy dose of melodic rock, delicately executed mood shifts, the full continuum of shades from very dark to very light, superb singing and instrumentation, especially in the tasty and versatile lead guitars and bass, augmented with just the right keyboard atmospherics, perky punchiness that avoids metallic malapropisms, and you have "After the Storm". In this incarnation Kaos Moon is like fellow Canadians Saga without the Queen-like drama. In other words, certainly not wholly progressive, but wholly enjoyable without overstatement and with all but the tastiest fat trimmed. If I had to single out a few tracks, albeit minimized if taken out of the overall musical context, I would pick "Nobody's Perfect", "Sayana", "If Someday", and "Vision". The 2 instrumentals are both adventurous yet accessible as well. Indeed, it is the overall entertainment value of this work that places it way above most prog, while avoiding that velveeta factor at the same time. The only exception might be "Symphonia" due to silly rhyming lyrics and a trite unmemorable chorus.

Pick this one up, give this a listen, followed by another listen, and another listen....and after the storm has passed, I think you'll agree this warrants 4+ stars.

This is IT!

Wow! This debut album from the band from Canada's French province Quebec really BLEW me away at first spin of the album. You might challenge me on how come I rate this band highly but I have solid reason to defend my standpoint: the nuance that the band creates through the music has truly embraced my hearts not just my ears. How come? It's for a very basic and simple reason: it reminds me to a legendary band Pink Floyd. But, please do not compare it with Porcupine Tree because Kaos Moon took different approach in their music making. While Porcupine Tree has focused significantly on soundscapes, Kaos Moon takes Floydian guitar approach and rhythm section in the vein of Pink Floyd - even though it's not exactly the same. Pink Floyd's music rarely used riff in their music but Kaos Moon uses it quite a bit in the music. Kaos Moon does not take the soundscape side of Pink Floyd - that's why I welcome your differing opinion about this.

The band is quite strange to me as they had been around since 1984 and did only make album in 1994, a solid ten years of no album! It seems like they love number 10 because the second album "The Circle of Madness" ten years later (2004). The band was initially formed by Bernard Oulette.

"Memory Station" (5:00) opens the album beautifully and it blows me away at first spin. The tempo is actually upbeat but the guitar playing is really in the vein of David Gilmour and the music reminds me to Pink Floyd "Dark Side of The Moon" album. It has good harmony, stunning guitar work and melodic singing. The second track "Nobody's perfect" (7:20)brings the same nuance as the opening track. Again, the guitar playing is really stunning even though the music is not as ambient as Pink Floyd. The third track " Sayana" (4:05) starts with different style but when the guitar enters after the first lyrical verse, it reminds me to Pink Floyd's "Time". Oh .. I really love this kind of music and I miss Pink Floyd makes something like this again - if they make a new album.

"Cross Match" (6:21) is an instrumental that starts in ambient mood using Taurus pedal and keyboard followed beautifully by guitar effects. Drumming provides its wonderful entrance augmented by guitar effects while the Taurus pedal still provides its background sounds. The music than moves in upbeat mode - moving away the pink Floyd influence and make their own way. It's an excellent instrumental! Drum work and guitar solo are truly stunning. As the title implies "Symphonia" (5:23) stratrs off in symphonic nuance through the work of keyboard but then followed with music in moderate tempo in the vein of neo progressive music. The intertwining guitar and keyboard work that form nice rhythm section is cool. I remember CAST which shares similar style like this song.

"If Someday" (7:34) starts wonderfully with catchy piano work and keyboard followed by floating vocal work. The music moves in crescendo with symphonic style. It reminds me to the kind of Genesis' "Many Too Many" with more dynamic melody, accentuated beautifully by jazzy piano work. When the music enters with drum at approx 1:30 it sounds great especially the tight bass guitar work. I believe most of you would love this track especially when the guitar enters, it's a stunning guitar solo. The bass guitar is given the chance to deliver solo augmented by keyboard and guitar fills. "Vision" (5:13) starts mellow and then moves in crescendo with accentuated vocal work augmented by guitar riff and dynamic drumming. Keyboard and bass provide excellent work here. The ending part which features guitar solo combined with keyboard is nice. "After the Storm" (5:31) concludes the album with an instrumental work opened with long sustain keyboard work and effects in ambient mood. The music starts to blast at approx 1:02 with drumming and nice piano work in repetitive notes followed with simple guitar riffs while piano still deliver its repetitive notes. At approx 2:20 bass guitar plays dominant role to create the beat followed with guitar solo and long sustain keyboard. It's truly an excellent instrumental. It reminds me to Pink Floyd "One of These Days".

Overall, I am really satisfied with this album because there is no such mediocre track at all in the album. In fact, there are many wonderful segments throughout its entire album. You might disagree with me on the Floydian style but at least you would see the guitar playing is really Floydian. I am very keen to have the later album and I believe it must be a great album. Highly Recommended.Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW (i-Rock! Music Community)

Cross Match

Canadian band Kaos Moon's 1994 debut album After The Storm is one of those rare gems that I most probably never even would have heard of if it wasn't for Prog Archives. After having found out about its existence, tracking down the actual music was not easy. But I can honestly say that it was absolutely worth the effort. Somewhere in the borderline between Crossover Prog and Neo- Prog, this actually sounds very British. I'm especially reminded of IQ, but with a bit more of an edge.

This is simply an excellent album with groovy bass lines, delightful modern keyboards, powerful lead guitar, driving drum beats, and pleasant vocals. Everything (with the exception of the vocals) is louder than everything else in a very appealing way. Not every track is as strong as every other, but overall the material is very strong. The groovy opening track Memory Station and the instrumental Cross Match stand out for me with their somewhat greater quantity of quirks, twists and turns. The former has a brilliant keyboard part. The album flows very well from beginning to end and there is a nice variation between softer and more hard-edged, faster songs.

Sadly it would take Kaos Moon as much as ten years to produce a follow-up album (and besides, that second album sounds like it was made by a completely different group!). This band deserves a lot more recognition than they have received.

After The Storm is a highly recommended album!