Trollheart's Listening List 2015/2016

Trollheart · 01-18-2016, 10:16 AM

Title: Travelog
Artiste: Kinetic Element
Year 2015
Nationality: American
Genre: Progressive Rock
Rank: Noob
2

Expectations: Not the foggiest. I see it's what might be termed “real progressive rock”, as in, there are only five tracks with the shortest just shy of ten minutes, while the longest is twice that. Could be great, could be wankery to the nth degree, who knows?

1. War song: Interesting, almost Gabrielesque buildup in the intro, then it takes something of a jazzy turn, reminds me of the likes of Jethro Tull or Gentle Giant (what I've heard of them anyway) and now it's turning very seventies Genesis with a big keyboard run and a nice guitar solo. Three minutes in now and I have yet to hear vocals. Oh, here they are, in the fifth minute, just as I was thinking this would be an instrumental, if a long one. Hey! Sounds like the guy from Sean Filkins's album... no, don't recognise the name. Looks like there are three different vocalists here, and this first one, Dimetrius LaFavors, sings on the first three of the tracks here. Good voice. Enjoying this so far. Some fine keyboard work and almost Santanaesque guitar. Holy hell that was good.
2. Travelog: Beautiful little soft acoustic guitar to open this, then gets very Yes indeed. This is a great track too. Love the false ending when it then picks up into another but faster acoustic guitar run.
3. Into the lair: I'm telling you, this album just keeps getting better! Now we have a Rushesque dramatic cinematic instrumental to open, and the last of LaFavors's vocal performances, which so far have been gold. And continue to be. This one is very much instrumental for most of its ten-minute run though. This is not surprising really, as founder Mike Visaggio plays the keys and also writes the songs. Pretty sure there's a mellotron in there: talk about the old prog sound!
4. Her: Starts off with a truly beautiful piano solo which reminds me of Wakeman and Banks, joined then by flutey keyboard which takes us into the second minute, where it develops on a sort of staccato drum beat and piano, bringing in the vocals this time of Mike Florio, whose sound is much different to that of the previous singer but still really suits the music. I have to admit, I'm kind of not so taken with the way this one is unfolding at the moment, so it could be the first Green in a sea of Blues. Still, it runs for eleven minutes, of which we've only hit the fifth at this point, so let's not judge it too quickly. Yeah, it has some okay elements (sorry) but it's only getting a Green.
5. Vision of a new dawn: This however is right back to the Blues. Beautiful keyboard/piano intro, great vocal from the final singer on this album, one Michel Loose Schrotz. We're twelve minutes into the eighteen it runs for already and I hadn't even realised. Some great individual performances here, but still with the band working together as a unit.

Final result: Truly stunning album from a band of whose existence, once again, I was totally ignorant. Haven't been quite this impressed since I listened to Willowglass. Definitely recommended for aficionados of true prog rock; this will take you back while still keeping you firmly in the present. Wonderful effort. Must now check out their other album.

Rating:

Trollheart · 12-04-2016, 02:35 PM

Found this hiding away on page 20 or so. Time to kick some life into this thread. Watch for reviews soon. You have been warned.

01-18-2016, 10:16 AM	#1 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Title: Travelog Artiste: Kinetic Element Year 2015 Nationality: American Genre: Progressive Rock Rank: Noob 2 Expectations: Not the foggiest. I see it's what might be termed “real progressive rock”, as in, there are only five tracks with the shortest just shy of ten minutes, while the longest is twice that. Could be great, could be wankery to the nth degree, who knows? 1. War song: Interesting, almost Gabrielesque buildup in the intro, then it takes something of a jazzy turn, reminds me of the likes of Jethro Tull or Gentle Giant (what I've heard of them anyway) and now it's turning very seventies Genesis with a big keyboard run and a nice guitar solo. Three minutes in now and I have yet to hear vocals. Oh, here they are, in the fifth minute, just as I was thinking this would be an instrumental, if a long one. Hey! Sounds like the guy from Sean Filkins's album... no, don't recognise the name. Looks like there are three different vocalists here, and this first one, Dimetrius LaFavors, sings on the first three of the tracks here. Good voice. Enjoying this so far. Some fine keyboard work and almost Santanaesque guitar. Holy hell that was good. 2. Travelog: Beautiful little soft acoustic guitar to open this, then gets very Yes indeed. This is a great track too. Love the false ending when it then picks up into another but faster acoustic guitar run. 3. Into the lair: I'm telling you, this album just keeps getting better! Now we have a Rushesque dramatic cinematic instrumental to open, and the last of LaFavors's vocal performances, which so far have been gold. And continue to be. This one is very much instrumental for most of its ten-minute run though. This is not surprising really, as founder Mike Visaggio plays the keys and also writes the songs. Pretty sure there's a mellotron in there: talk about the old prog sound! 4. Her: Starts off with a truly beautiful piano solo which reminds me of Wakeman and Banks, joined then by flutey keyboard which takes us into the second minute, where it develops on a sort of staccato drum beat and piano, bringing in the vocals this time of Mike Florio, whose sound is much different to that of the previous singer but still really suits the music. I have to admit, I'm kind of not so taken with the way this one is unfolding at the moment, so it could be the first Green in a sea of Blues. Still, it runs for eleven minutes, of which we've only hit the fifth at this point, so let's not judge it too quickly. Yeah, it has some okay elements (sorry) but it's only getting a Green. 5. Vision of a new dawn: This however is right back to the Blues. Beautiful keyboard/piano intro, great vocal from the final singer on this album, one Michel Loose Schrotz. We're twelve minutes into the eighteen it runs for already and I hadn't even realised. Some great individual performances here, but still with the band working together as a unit. Final result: Truly stunning album from a band of whose existence, once again, I was totally ignorant. Haven't been quite this impressed since I listened to Willowglass. Definitely recommended for aficionados of true prog rock; this will take you back while still keeping you firmly in the present. Wonderful effort. Must now check out their other album. Rating: __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

12-04-2016, 02:35 PM	#2 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Found this hiding away on page 20 or so. Time to kick some life into this thread. Watch for reviews soon. You have been warned. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018