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| Progressive Rock CD Reviews |
| Track by Track Review
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Barbarian At The Gate
They waste no time getting to it, jumping instantly into a frantic ELP meets King Crimson lightning fast jam. I couldn't imagine a much better disc opener coming from these guys. |
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Nemesis
This comes in at first tentatively, then bursts into a fusion-like ELP-tinged jam with a great groove. Novello puts in a very tasty piano solo in the middle of this one. Sheehan's bass seems to be everywhere on this cut. They throw in a section of KC-like slight dissonance later. |
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Blisterine
Coming in with just bass and percussion, this one stays that way for a while before the keys bring in waves of sound overtop, then eventually begin soaring overhead. |
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King Kong
Jamming this time on a Frank Zappa composition, the guys put in a retro jazzy textured rendition of the piece. This one covers a lot of territory and is a fairly long piece. It gets rather chaotic at times and drops way down and Sheehan solos to end it. |
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Super Grande
More fast paced instrumental prog jamming is on the menu here. The ELPish tendencies return on this one. They wander into a killer, more melodic movement later, but then move back into the fast paced musical explorations to carry on later. |
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Magnetic Mood
The groove on this one is an extremely cool, more laid back jazz texture. They take this one on quite a few interesting twists and turns and Sheehan gets in another awesome solo. |
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Hair of the Dog
A fusion texture begins this in an off kilter jam. Suddenly it shifts gear to dissonant symphonic music for a few measures before coming back to where it came from. This twists around later into a nearly metal pounding jam, then turns around again into a soaring prog adventure. The symphonic section returns later for longer to crescendo to end the piece. |
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4 ' 5 3
This is another one that has a definite ELP-like texture, but it also has a nice retro groove format. |
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Stumble on the Truth
This one is a pretty typical Niacin track, jazzy retro prog based on a killer groove. A fast paced driving break, though, is off kilter just a little King Crimson like. |
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Club Soda
This fast paced retro sounding jazz prog cut is based on a killer riff. They put in some awe-inspiring instrumental modes over top of this and change it up later to an ELP-like section at a few points. This turns into an incredibly awesome later with simulated non-lyrical vocals lending a bit of an African texture to the piece, and the band jam like madmen there. |
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No Shame
This comes in with something that feels like scat singing, only there is no voice. This bouncy jazzy groove really rocks. |
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Clean House
Here we get more trademark Niacin in the form of a smooth, funky jazzy retro prog groove. There are no earth shattering change ups here, just good, clean fun. |
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Extra Special Bonus Track - Foot Prints In The Sand
This is still more vintage Niacin - a good rocker and a smooth close to the disc. |
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