Ermahgerd! Dey Terk Er Bergs!
Now…I don’t have a PhD…or a master’s degree or anything of the sort, I’m just you’re average gothic chav…I squeeze my skinny jeans on one leg at a time. I’ve found challenges trying to use tin openers to be honest let alone trying to wrap my head around scientific / algebraic equations…so, luckily for me (And I say that with more than a sprinkle of sarcasm) we’re about to check out a band by the name of KLOGR. Pronounced “Kay-Log-Are” and derived from the psycho-physical law (S=KlogR) developed by Ernst Heinrich Weber (An experimental psychologist) and Gustav Fechner (A German philosopher)…the purpose of this four-piece Italian/American outfit (consisting of vocalist/guitarist Gabriele Rustichelli, guitarist Pietro Quilichini, drummer Maicol Morgotti and bassist Roberto Galli) is to explore human perception via means of stimulus and they intend on doing this with their new album “Keystone”, scheduled for release on October 6th. A real thinking man’s band or, pretentious prog-rock? I’m about to get a headache finding out…
The album opens up with “Sleeping Through The Seasons” and initially we’re given a hushed, gentle piano-led intro akin to a lullaby you’d find emitting from a babies cot mobile, which in itself is fitting…beginning in a dream-state, allowing life to pass you by without truly living, a total numbness of the senses, before it livens up with its riff-heavy offerings, chugging but restrained, more generic than djent, accompanied by Gabriele’s raw vocals…for the most part you can hear the influence of the likes of A PERFECT CIRCLE, but the chorus is considerably livelier, channeling the influence of ALTER BRIDGE here too, especially within the solo, it rounds off the track nicely and it gives it an extra air of quality, a decent start this. First single “Prison Of Light”, musically doesn’t differ a great deal…the bass heavy riffs carry the track as it plods along...another solo thrown in for good measure, it’s OK but the real essence of the band lies within the stories carried by their songs…here we find them lambasting the shallowness of the modern world, the importance of appearance and materialism an ever increasing issue in a generation too absorbed in aesthetics…
The generally slower, sluggish tone is pretty much consistent throughout though, as “The Echoes Of Sin” channels Gabrielle’s inner Maynard James Keenan with this stab at a hard rock ballad, aimed at the scaremongering culture of religion, you shouldn’t live in fear of failure, of divine judgement , before we go all conceptual via the double header of “Siren’s Song”…a brief but chilling interlude, leading onto “Dark Tides”…targeting environmental issues, the loss of marine life and the consequences mankind faces as we kill the ocean, while at the tail end of the album, we finish up on “The Wall Of Illusion”…concentrating on a self-imposed façade because of the harsh realities of life we aren’t strong enough to face…a psychological barrier held up by denial. Essentially, the narrative of this album, while it isn’t strictly a completely conceptual one, does highlight important issues and does so cleverly through solid song-based storytelling…the only real down fall is that musically, it’s almost holding back. The few solo’s that are included are very enjoyable but they don’t pick up the overall stagnancy of the record; it really can feel quite slow in places. Lyrically it’s from the heart, you can tell, allowing you to then appreciate this more…sadly the musicianship doesn’t live up to the same standard, often finding itself as middle of the road hard rock….which is a shame as when some of your inspiration comes from bands that also include TOOL and PORCUPINE TREE, you just can’t help but feel that instrumentally they played it a bit safe. Nevertheless, a decent album and an interesting one to digest…he says with an enigmatic smile. [5]
The album opens up with “Sleeping Through The Seasons” and initially we’re given a hushed, gentle piano-led intro akin to a lullaby you’d find emitting from a babies cot mobile, which in itself is fitting…beginning in a dream-state, allowing life to pass you by without truly living, a total numbness of the senses, before it livens up with its riff-heavy offerings, chugging but restrained, more generic than djent, accompanied by Gabriele’s raw vocals…for the most part you can hear the influence of the likes of A PERFECT CIRCLE, but the chorus is considerably livelier, channeling the influence of ALTER BRIDGE here too, especially within the solo, it rounds off the track nicely and it gives it an extra air of quality, a decent start this. First single “Prison Of Light”, musically doesn’t differ a great deal…the bass heavy riffs carry the track as it plods along...another solo thrown in for good measure, it’s OK but the real essence of the band lies within the stories carried by their songs…here we find them lambasting the shallowness of the modern world, the importance of appearance and materialism an ever increasing issue in a generation too absorbed in aesthetics…
The generally slower, sluggish tone is pretty much consistent throughout though, as “The Echoes Of Sin” channels Gabrielle’s inner Maynard James Keenan with this stab at a hard rock ballad, aimed at the scaremongering culture of religion, you shouldn’t live in fear of failure, of divine judgement , before we go all conceptual via the double header of “Siren’s Song”…a brief but chilling interlude, leading onto “Dark Tides”…targeting environmental issues, the loss of marine life and the consequences mankind faces as we kill the ocean, while at the tail end of the album, we finish up on “The Wall Of Illusion”…concentrating on a self-imposed façade because of the harsh realities of life we aren’t strong enough to face…a psychological barrier held up by denial. Essentially, the narrative of this album, while it isn’t strictly a completely conceptual one, does highlight important issues and does so cleverly through solid song-based storytelling…the only real down fall is that musically, it’s almost holding back. The few solo’s that are included are very enjoyable but they don’t pick up the overall stagnancy of the record; it really can feel quite slow in places. Lyrically it’s from the heart, you can tell, allowing you to then appreciate this more…sadly the musicianship doesn’t live up to the same standard, often finding itself as middle of the road hard rock….which is a shame as when some of your inspiration comes from bands that also include TOOL and PORCUPINE TREE, you just can’t help but feel that instrumentally they played it a bit safe. Nevertheless, a decent album and an interesting one to digest…he says with an enigmatic smile. [5]
RSS Feed