Ouroboros: the ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail, symbolises eternity, rebirth and continuance.
Ouroboros --- Status Minor --- 2012 (Lion Music)
Status who? I had never heard of this band until a few months back, when I bought their debut album, "Dialog", and liked it so much I hopped on this as soon as it was released. They're a progressive rock/metal band hailing from the mecca of prog rock, er, Finland. They are, in fact, the only band I know of in that genre who come from that country, though as I say I've been having something of a resurgence in interest in Finland with bands like Human Temple coming out of there. Status Minor is the brainchild of guitarist Sami Saarinen, and his work is stamped all over the music like an indelible fingerprint.
The album opens on a big heavy number, quite metal with screeching guitars and rolling drums, the latter courtesy of sticksman Rolf Pilve, and vocalist Markku Kuikka is certainly up to the task, with a strong powerful voice that easily handles all the registers. Some great keyboard work from Jukka Karinen too, and the opener "The wind" definitely sets the tone for the rest of the album, as we move into "Hollow", another fast powerful puncher, with a somewhat dramatic feel to the melody, Karinen's piano playing this time a greater role and a great guitar solo from Saarinen, with quite an eastern tinge to it.
Things continue to rock along nicely with "Glass wall", then gentle piano from Jukka Karinen introduces the ballad "Like a dream", which features female vocals but I can't find out whose they are. They lead in the first verse, then Markku Kuikka comes in to take the lead while Sami Saarinen racks off some powerful riffs to add teeth to the ballad, with a great solo about halfway through. A strong and emotional duet takes the song out on the back of Karinen's piano, ushering in darker, more sombre piano as "Confidence and trust" gets going with a very classical intro, and again those female vocals (why aren't they credited?) frame another ballad, though this one is quite short, just over two minutes.
We're back to rocking then with one of the standouts, "Stain", opening on a termendous guitar solo then giving way to sprightly piano from Karinen, Kuikka's voice a bit harder and more ragged here, the song quite Threshold in feel. Those female vocals are back to add something of an ethereal timbre to the song, and she stays with it as the track picks up again and rockets off. There's no slowing down either as we head into "Smile", which just pounds along with hammering drums and churning guitar worthy of any headbangers' ball --- kind of reminds me of Kamelot in places.
Nice acoustic guitar opening to "Flowers die", with a very gentle and clear vocal from Kuikka, almost folk in feel until the percussion hits in on the back of the synthwork and the song gets a little heavier, yet I'd still count it as the third ballad, which is quite unusual on an album of this nature. It has a lovely swaying rhythm, which I would think would go down very well on stage, and indeed marks it as another standout. Kuikka's voice rises to match the change in if not tempo then intensity in the song, and Saarinen racks off another fine solo without actually taking over the track completely.
The perhaps expected epic comes in the closer, the ten-minute-plus "Sail away", opening on powerful drumming and hard guitar, then some very proggy keyboard --- maybe Hammond? --- and a Yes-style guitar riff that takes the song into almost the third minute before it breaks down to soft rippling piano and what sounds like violin, and finally the vocal comes in on the back of a mighty bassline and sprinkly piano. Once it gets going properly then, the song rocks along in fine style and is indeed a great closer, even featuring some more contributing vocals from the mystery lady who added vocals to some of the other tracks, and it's yet another standout.
TRACKLISTING
1. The wind
2. Hollow
3. Glass wall
4. Like a dream
5. Confidence and trust
6. Stain
7. Smile
8. Flowers die
9. Sail away
Bands like Status Minor are too easily overlooked. There's a danger in coming from a country not generally associated with rock music or even a particular genre --- Poland has recently established itself as something of a musical "Silicon Valley" with the emergence of bands like Riverside, Amarok, Mordor and Abraxas --- but if you look in most countries you'll find bands of quality. They don't all have to hail from the UK or USA, or indeed even Germany or Sweden. Expand your horizons geographically and you could vastly expand them musically too.
As for Status Minor, with an album of this calibre I would be very hopeful that their status is very soon due to change.