KLONE

I just learned about the band Klone this year as I saw that they are opening for Devin Townsend. The album "Meanwhile" is heavy rock / metal with lots of atmospheric elements and VERY earnest vocals. Lead singer Yann Linger has a powerful tonality and an emotional delivery. He definitely has a 90's flavor in the way he bends and gravels on notes (a little like Daniel Johns from Silverchair). It works really well for a few songs. But after awhile it gets a bit grating for me. He keeps using the same melodic moves in almost every track which makes the songs run into each other a bit. I wish he would have created a rhythm and melody that was unique for each song.

The reverbs and low, distorted textures are typical of the genre but well done. When the band decides to take some risks, I found myself giving an internal "hellyeah!" My happy reaction was most prominent on the second track "Blink of an Eye" which begins with an add harmonized key part that adds a spooky layer to dirge-like opening and eventually gets to a crushing Gojira-like riff that I wish had more company on the album. The moment I begin to bob my head, and make a stank face, I know a track has connected. The opener, "Within Reach" is also strong, along with "the Unknown" which is much more riff-y than some of the other tunes that rely on sustained chords throughout.

There definitely are prog elements here, but the band is not leaning into them very much. Clearly they have the talent to add some ear candy, some surprises. I just wanted more. Overall, this would be a good one to slice and dice for playlists, but is just too monotonous for a straight listen. 3-/5

The star of the show once again is the vocalist Yann Ligner who adds some extreme vocals to this live release, not a lot but it's a positive for me just adding to the intensity and the way he goes from normal singing to extreme is so cool. The guy is incredibly talented. It was also cool to hear some songs I wasn't familiar with like "Rocket Smoke" from "The Dreamer's Hideaway" and the closer "Army Of Me" a Bjork cover and from "Black Days". "Yonder" the opener is amazing with the thunder to open and how this isn't in my top five just shows how strong this record is. Top five includes two from "Le Grand Voyage" and they are back to back in "Breach" and "Sealed" two gorgeous tracks with plenty of atmosphere and amazing vocals. The other three from my top five are from "Here Comes The Sun" in "The Drifter" a song I can't get enough of along with "Immersion" and "Nebulous" and man so much emotion in thee songs.

My hunch paid off this time when I bought this live cd along with "Le Grand Voyage" and "Here Comes The Sun". A powerful band with atmosphere galore and a singer that is second to none.

The singer wrote all the lyrics while the rhythm/ atmospheric guitarist wrote all the music except for on "Sealed" which the singer composed. The keyboardist once again uses systoles devices along with sax on one track. It was cool to hear that surprise bonus track my first time I spun it because it doesn't show it in the liner notes or back cover but it's called "The Spy" and it's a cover of THE DOORS track from "Morrison Hotel". They make it their own although the singer does go into Jim's style of singing. I like it a lot. The last two tracks are well done but not in my top five which is why I think this could have ended stronger.

My top five does include the opening three tracks. The opener "Yonder" might be my favourite. Opening with the crack of thunder which will continue for over a minute it's quickly joined by picked guitar and then laid back vocals. Love the atmosphere to end it but man what a gorgeous opener. "Breach" is another beauty and maybe my favourite vocal performance on here, that tone! So uplifting this one and even a FLOYD vibe.

"Sealed" is cool with the guest steel guitar, not "steal" I'm sure as they have it in the liner notes. Another relaxed track. The back to back "Hidden Passenger" and "The Great Oblivion" round out my top five. The former is in the style of the others I mentioned but "The Great Oblivion" has down-tuned guitars and a heavier sound bringing fellow french band MARS RED SKY to mind.

I really like this band, the atmosphere, the vocals, it all works so well. Easily 4 stars.

The singer is the key for me as he steals the show, I love his voice. So of the six members we get two guitarists one lead the other for rhythm and atmosphere. The keyboardist adds sax but I just hear it on one track plus "systoles devices". As incredible as the music is and for me ANATHEMA came to mind the most, like a blend of their "Judgment" period with their more modern "We're Here Because We're Here". Oh yeah where was I going with that, the cover art! A surrealistic photo by Joel Robison who's site I was on and wish I had many of the hundreds of pictures I saw on my walls here at home, pretty cool mind bending pictures like this one. The music can be so uplifting and emotional but also sad and melancholic. Love the song writing, I mean what am I doing I've checked all but one song as being great, this deserves that fifth star.

Just one amazing tune after another but man I've spun this often. By the way they thank ORPHANED LAND in the liner notes, and the packaging is very well done with the lyrics present and some cool pictures etc. So I've checked 8 tracks and it's tough to come up with a top three or five. The melancholy and atmosphere is there in spades with the opener "Immersion" along with that fifth track "Nebulous". Powerful and emotional and the opener is the one I hear sax on. The closest thing to a ballad might be "Come Undone" but thankfully it doesn't slip into mediocracy but stays mid-paced. I adore the vocals here and check them out 2 minutes in and before 3 1/2 minutes as they soar with emotion.

The closer is the longest at almost 7 1/2 minutes with a lot of instrumental music featured. Maybe the best drum track as well. Quite heavy later. As much as I am so into heavy atmospheric music the second song "Fog" might be my favourite on here. Almost jazzy, much lighter and it just makes me feel that I'm glad I'm alive. So glad I discovered this band. I keep coming back to "The Drifter" while the other two tracks I'd like to mention are "Gone Up In Flames" a great Prog-Rock tune, almost like modern MARILLION. Love the chorus. And "Grim Dance" that I like a little less but man it comes across as a modern KATATONIA piece with the down-tuned guitar and vocals.

I'm not coming back to bump this up I'm doing it now. A powerful and moving album that is right up my alley. 2015 was a very good year for me music-wise.

The material on "Black Days" is a combination of alternative rock/metal and progressive rock/metal. The two major influences I hear are Tool and Gojira, although Klone aren´t as experimental as the former or as heavy and aggressive as the latter ("Immaculate Desire" sounds a lot like contemporary Gojira though). The organic and groove laden rhythms, heavy guitars, and atmosperic keyboards and samples are complimented by the strong voice and passionate delivery of Yann Ligner, who sounds like a combination of Maynard James Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle), Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Joe Duplantier (Gojira). This is highly rhythmic music featuring great dynamics. Mellow atmospheric sections, darker heavy sections, and many intriguing songwriting ideas. The album features 10 original compositions and a cover of "Army of Me" by Björk.

One of the great strengths of "Black Days", is the high level musicianship on display. Klone are exceptionally well playing/singing, and it´s a great joy listening to them perform. Both the individual performances, but maybe more importantly how well they function as a unit. "Black Days" also features a powerful, organic, and well sounding production which suits the material well, so upon conclusion it´s another quality release from Klone, who are a band deserving much more attention and recognition than what they´ve experienced thus far. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

Le grand voyage opens with an ominous thunderstorm and a churning guitar riff, evoking a sense of heavy atmosphere. Yonder is extremely drenched with reverb. The first bit of distorted guitar opens with some disjoint and soft piano. The vocals are really processed, something I wish wasn't the case but I can't deny how the chorus of this song soars. It's interesting how the breakdown mirrors the djent style of breakdowns except at an incredibly slow pace.

Breach follows the same path as yonder, an equally epic and atmospheric song. There's a really playful bassline during the verses that really gives the droning nature of these songs a bit of active kick. This song is a bit more repetitive than Yonder, but it's still got a lot of tricks hidden up its sleeve that distinguishes it from atmospheric alt rock. Sadly, it ends without much fanfare, which was a huge disappointment because I was expecting more to develop from it.

Sealed is a bit more mysterious, with some really deliciously buttery harmonies. At the risk of sounding indistinct, the songs on this album are nearly ambient with how thick and textural the guitars are. This song ends a bit better than the last, but it still feels like these songs hold the same arc for better or worse. It feels like they all have an even dynamic hump, going up and down.

Indelible opens with some jangly slow guitar. I like the post-rock guitar textures on this song that almost mimic a string section at their most atmospheric. There's a beautiful synth solo in this song that almost dances around the stereo field. About midway through, there's a break into a more clear riff and some of the more apparent and active drumwork on this album. And surprise, there's a sax solo layered in here. I actually really enjoy how they developed this song.

Keystone opens with a rhythmic and open sounding guitar riff, sort of like the last one. This song has a more stripped back feel, almost reminiscant of the more mellow later-era tool songs. There's a really surprising harmony that gives this song a real kick that I enjoy. Not as much, however, as the real kick later in the song. This has the kind of terminal climax that I was expecting more from on this record.

Hidden Passenger is another mellow song, one that I find myself unable to describe without repeating myself. There's a really cool harmony guitar part before one of the choruses that is quite beautiful to hear.

The Great Oblivion changes the pace of this record by opening with some seriously heavy chords. The rising guitar counter-line is really nice as well. This is one of the more active songs on here. It has a lot of fuel to it that really pushes it forward. The rhythm guitar gets choppier midway through, complimented by some pretty chromatic harmonies that contrast well with the atmospheric bleariness. This has the most technical sounding moments, and its really tight.

Sad and Slow really sums up this album, doesn't it? I cannot resist, it's an easy target for sure. This isn't the mellowest song on here by far, if anything the drums are quite pummeling.

Silver gate continues the same trend to a bit of disappointment on my end. There really isn't a finale to this record, it just keeps going. It catches the vibe quite well, but it feels like it's missing out on making a statement of any sort.

My biggest problem with this album is that it seems to just drone on. I heard maybe 3 distinct songs on this record. The best parts were songs like Yonder and The Great Oblivion, these songs really felt like they were taking me on a great journey. For the most part, though, the songs on this record are stagnant. The vocal delivery is practically the same the whole way through, and the lyrics just seemed vague and uninteresting with little exception. If you're a fan of Anathema and maybe some of the more mellow offerings of atmospheric metal, you'll probably vibe with this record. Ultimately, this came off as a rather generic album. It's not bad, not at all, but the talents of Klone feel wasted by how much this drags. The reverb never changes, the tempos are mostly the same, the rhythm guitar can be downright boring at times, and the ultimate effect is an album that's not for impatient listeners.

Their latest opus '' Le Grand Voyage '' as well as the penultimate '' Here Comes The Sun '' are greatly represented on this live of more than 80 minutes (a live when the pandemic recedes, when the theaters will reopen ), '' Yonder '' and the always floydien '' Breach '' very captivating, '' The Last Experience '' for a diabolical crescendo hold the string; two tracks from "The Dreamer's Hideaway" as well as three from "Black Days" including a Bjork cover finish filling the "Alive" set-list. Specifically, the start is on the last one released in the studio and you may feel like you are just recording; cold, intense, bewitching, ethereal, metallic, explosive, enjoyable atmosphere, just that. The titles invite you to travel, to contemplate, a captivating moment between shadow and light; a great snub to covid which has prevented many festivities and which will hopefully come to an end; for the record it was Klone that I saw in concert just before the sudden end of the demonstrations last year, it is with this "Alive" that the venues reopen and that I tell you to go see them.

Klone makes atmo rock on a heavy prog trend at the border of genres and does it well, Klone releases this live for those who still fear gatherings, Klone makes travel so go with them to stay in the musical layers.

Yann has a bewitching and captivating voice, Aldrick and Guillaume combine perfectly to give a heavy, unhealthy and catchy atmosphere; the basic rhythm allows the different tracks to give the best of themselves. Some titles are particularly striking, namely the first 4 including "Yonder", "Breach", "Sealed" with hellish rhythm that makes you go very far and prevent you from coming back to earth; Matthieu with his synths is also for many, giving a depressive, tragic, monolithic sound. After the following titles have a little taste of coming back to it, of already heard, a lack of intensity somewhere, but it's good, heavier, more depressive, darker, more bewitching; it is with the "Silver Gate" that all the intensity of the departure returns with a bang, giving the end of this album a dramatic sound; heavy, heavy, KLONE which will remain as one of the most beautiful slaps of the year.

The French group to follow, which stands out over the listening of the great ANATHEMA, PARADISE LOST, hovering dark prog of good quality.

In the final months of my previous life, in the distant, "before-times", AKA BC (Before Covid), I listened to the last two studio albums by Klone a lot. They were frequent company during my daily commute. Was that a dream?

I moved onto other music in my deep, sanity-saving, prog dive of the past many months.

I saw this new, live, Klone album come up for new releases and gave it a few consecutive, very careful spins. It hit me quite hard, partially due to the context described above, but also because it is very good. Very good.

Through the first part of the opening track, Yonder, I was thinking that this is just going to be an uneventful, accurate, restatement of the studio albums, but then singer Yann Ligner let his voice start to fade long notes into distant, death yells, seamlessly. It was subtle and infrequent, but it was perfect. I'm not a fan of that style of singing, although I'm starting to "get it" a little now that I've let Opeth and Cult of Luna enter my consciousness. It sounded really good in this opener! It helps that Yann is probably one of the finest singers today.

Ok, now that you have my attention, Klone, where is this ride going to go? I'm giving you an hour, show me.

I had tried listening to earlier Klone, but I couldn't get past the death yell screams that were completely absent from the last two albums that I loved. It looks like I missed out. This album leans heavily on the last two albums (primarily Here Come the Sun), but it scatters in several songs from the previous two, heavier albums. What a great introduction to these new to me tracks where the death yells were tastefully interspersed and quite infrequent. I may need to visit those albums now.

The tracks from the last two albums were played quite truthful to the studio versions, but with a rough edge and more aggression, sometimes due to the heavier or more distorted guitar or bass, sometimes due to heavier drums, and often due to Yann's mastery of his voice and him frequently riding right on the edge of pure aggression (case in point, last few minutes of Nebulous).

The track selection and order in this recording are perfection. The songs flow and take you many places through various soundscapes, from dreamy to crushing heavy, but always with a deep, emotional, melancholy.

There's something a little different about this band and this album is a great representation and it would be a good introduction to the band. The guitars are very clean for a heavy band and the percussion is often sublte and complex (think Tool's Danny Carrey). The guitars from the the albums before those are more distorted and more metal somewhat, but still pretty light on the gain. The use of seven string guitars or heavily drop-tuned guitars contributes to the heaviness on most songs and makes up for the lower-gain sound. The earlier Klone tracks remind me of Riverside at times. On this live album there are also some subtle keys and atmospherics that vary a little from the studio albums and make things a little more interesting.

Klone covers a lot of themes, moods and styles, but they all flow together very well with a unique sound of their own. It's all weaved together by a tight and powerful rhythm section playing an interesting, blended style and some of the best vocals you will ever hear.

This album will deeply satisfy a Klone fan, but I suspect it would be very well appreciated by any fans of heavy prog. For me, personally, it's the other life bookend of this surreal past 15 months. A bookend different from the other. Hardened, tougher, changed, yet sensitive and evolved.

I can't give this one 4 stars and there is no 4.6, so it is a 5 for me.