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Moonbound Confession And Release Review by Gary Hill This might not be the most obvious choice for the progressive rock section. Surely Moonbound’s music is quite pop oriented. The truth is there’s plenty of prog rock to go around, too, though. At many points on this disc I hear Porcupine Tree, but I also hear The Flower Kings from time to time. It Bites is another band I can spot in this musical montage at times. The music is catchy, but still meaty. That’s quite a feat. The disc is essentially the creation of Fabio Trentini but he is joined by a host of musicians. The most famous of those is Pat Mastelotto (of King Crimson fame). This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2008 Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review

Nina A retro keyboard sound leads this off. They bring in a bouncy sort of pop meets progressive rock texture. This is sort of an upbeat catchy prog rock with definite retro leanings. There is one short darker segment, but overall this poppier prog motif creates the sound for the entire track. We get a cool keyboard solo on this number.

Tired of Being Good A spoken voice in the background says, “Please forgive us for not believing what you’ve been saying.” The group launch into the song proper from there. It’s a grinding, pounding rocker that has perhaps less of a progressive rock texture as the opener. It’s still got enough to keep it under that heading for me, though. They expand it out into a powerhouse jam before they close things out.

Future After You They give us a more balladic cut here. The progressive rock elements come in some of the layers of sound that are placed on this. They also include a very Beatles-like chorus. I get a feeling of The Flower Kings on a lot of this CD for some reason, but it’s quite strong on this track.

Confession and Release We get another mellow motif here, but they turn it out to a harder rocking, but still melodic mode as an alternating section. I can almost hear the Police on the riff that makes up that portion of the track.

Last Minute Of The Day This has a lot more energetic arrangement and a bit of crunch. That said, I don’t think there is anyone out there who would mistake this for heavy metal. It’s poppy, but yet has enough progressive rock elements to keep the fans happy.

My Life Ain't Worth Being Lived Without You This one might not qualify as progressive rock at all. It’s basically a catchy modern rock song. It’s a good one and as a change of pace it works pretty well. The powered up chorus later has a bit of a Beatles texture to it.

It Looks Like Rain They start this in a more stripped down motif, but turn it into a cool song that’s rather fun. It gets very powerful as it carries on.

Luna Calante (Waning Moon) This is a short keyboard based instrumental.

Divergent Moons They seem to merge a bit of a neo-prog texture with an almost punk approach at times. The guitar solo on this one is extremely cool – with a rather psychedelic feel to it.

Up Above Here they turn it mellow and rather atmospheric in a ballad-like structure. This is quite a bit like Porcupine Tree. This gets a little psychedelic before it ends.

Flight Towards The Sky More powered up, this is rather bouncy. It’s poppy and catchy but still quite prog rock in nature. There is a tasty instrumental section on this one with some cool keyboard flavors.

The Lengths A Man Will Go To This is another that combines a pop sensibility with a prog rock sound. At times I’m reminded of Jellyfish and at other times I can hear It Bites on this. It’s a powerhouse cut that has more of those Beatles influences at times. It’s a great way to end the disc.

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