WAVING AT THE SKY

This is the second album from this Norwegian band. The music features heavy progressive elements and strong melodies, showcasing some breathtaking moments. 45 minutes that go so fast that you want more. There is the use of clean vocals and occasional growls throughout the album. Also, I enjoyed the loud bass sound and the cool drum parts. The band can go on a fast pace with some heavy passages and slow things down with some beautiful acoustic guitar parts. The songs have a natural flow in them that keeps you focused until the end. You can hear some influences from the Swedish school of Opeth and Anekdoten, which gives you an idea of how the music sounds here. If all the songs are excellent, and you don't want to skip any one of them, my favorites would be the angry "The Trauma" and the last one, "Waving to the Sky," displaying all the elements that the band uses on the previous songs with some tempo changes. The presence of Ross Jennings on one song brings the Haken influence, but I don't think it represents the sound of the album here.

A band of promising young Norwegians are showing their serious enthusiasm for a career in music as they have, with this album, returned (in less than two years) with their sophomore album release.

1. "Preceding" (3:13) solid instrumental power prog with a great sound palette, great rhythmic force, and cool engineering. I'm not as much of a fan of the monotonous single chord motif that dominates the third minute, but otherwise a song that gives me great promise for the rest of the album. (9/10)

2. "The Trauma" (5:17) picking right back up from where "Preceding" left off, I'm discovering reminders of bands like Distorted Harmony, Stare At The Clouds, Atmospheres, and Taylor Watson as I listen to this. When Simon Bergseth's vocals enter to become the featured item of the song, my associations to American and Australian Heavy Prog/Prog Metal bands only increases--and then you get the Death Metal growls at the end and the categorization is complete! I like it! (9.125/10)

3. "Families are Forever" (7:49) the requisite slowed down, spacious complex drum play that seems so common to 21st Century Prog Metal bands--especially the good ones who use atmospheric sections in some of their songs. Here is where the quality and skill of a singer's voice is really tested and Simon flies through with great results! He's no Ian Kenny (Karnivool) or Einar Solberg (Leprous) but he is great--on a level with The Contortionist's Michael Lessard and others. Awesome synth-wash-backed guitar solo in the seventh and eighth minutes! A song worthy of a place in the pantheon of great atmospheric Prog Metal songs! (14.375/15)

4. "Conflating Memories" (6:59) what starts out fine seals the deal with that awesome key/chord change at 0:49! Genius (and daring)! The multi-voice chorus singing is a bit hokey/fake sounding, but the compositional surprises and rich sonosphere more than make up for it. In the fourth minute Edvard Seim gives us another guitar solo that really grabs the listener's attention: it's not so flashy just solid, melodic, smooth, and satisfying--like something by Mirek Gil or perhaps David Gilmour. Then, at the end of the fifth minute a Moog-like synthesizer solo takes over as the band shifts into a darker, heavier minor chord structure. A little more singing, a little more guitar soloing, and the band decides on a long fade out to end it. Great stuff! (9.25/10)

5. "The Malevolent" (3:24) a solid song that feels like a 21st Century sound palette presentation of a 1990s LINKIN PARK song--and it sounds so easy for them: they sound like their just cruising along on laid back autopilot! At the same time, something minor is missing: I'm not sure if it's enthusiasm or originality but there's just a little too much ease. (8.875/10)

6. "Ghosts of Yesteryear" (6:17) a complex and challenging composition in which the band display some quite diverse and sophisticated stylistic and sonic faces: after starting out with some high-speed intricate instrumental djenty metal play while incorprating some B parts with Haken-like synths they suddenly switch early in the third minute to a Motorpsycho/Needlepoint-like pastoral acoustic vocal folk sound and motif--and then back to the crashing metal motif at the end of the fourth, employing the folk melody for a bit before descending back into the sophisticated djenty stuff! And then they kind of combine it all with Simon singing in a mellifluous voice. Very interesting . . . and bold! (9.125/10)

7. "Waving at the Sky" (12:19) the album's only epic, it comes in three parts, ABAB-CD-EF. The first two minutes sounding very much like the Naughties' hot Manchester band, DOVES, the next section (chorus) coming across as more THE PINEAPPLE THIEF despite the return to the opening motif after the first chorus. At the 4:00 mark, segueing from the second chorus, the band sways into a C section before devolving into a cacophony of distorted gremlin voices seeming to be in the middle of arguing while a PORCUPINE TREE-like motif materializes at 5:45 from behind before taking over. The ensuing synth-arpeggiated three-chord odd-timed motif is as much like Fear of a Blank Planet PT as anything, but then in the first half of the eighth minute Simon's death metal growls segue into some of that middle-register saw-synth soloing that we hear near the end of "Conflating Memories." But then we come out "into the Light" with a Neo-Prog like ending. Great drumming--as it has been throughout the album; mega kudos to stick man Martin Utby. (23/25)

Total Time 45:21

The band's 2023 debut, The Approbation, leapt onto the scene to great acclaim, presenting a band with great promise. Well I'm here to tell you that that promise (or potential) is being realized!

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of refreshing new prog. Highly recommended for all prog lovers.