Artists | Issues | CD Reviews | Interviews | Concert Reviews | DVD/Video Reviews | Book Reviews | Who We Are | Staff | Home
 
Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Fracktura

Oculus

Review by Gary Hill

This EP probably lands closest to the type of modern prog rock that is tied to the Rock In Opposition movement. There is a lot of modern chamber music sound here, but also jazz and King Crimson-like stuff. This is often dissonant.  It's clearly outside the mainstream. It has some intriguing music built into it, though.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2017  Volume 6 at  garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2017.
Track by Track Review
You

Nearly the first minute of this is delivered sans instrumentation. Layers of vocals make up the sound. Piano joins after that and the whole piece takes on a slightly creepy Rock In Opposition kind of sound for the duration. This is less than two minutes in length, so that duration isn't long.

Gold Spectrum
A wall of vocals starts this, but some RIO meets King Crimson styled jamming emerges from there. This is heavy and yet melodic. It is packed with dissonance and challenging sounds. There is a lot of jazz built into this. The vocals definitely reinforce both the jazz and the Rock In Opposition comparisons. this is a powerful, ever changing, piece of music. It's not for everyone and a bit odd, though.
The Fear Peddler

Coming in harder rocking, this still works out to more of that adventurous RIO-like sound. The vocals definitely bring that angle into being even more. I really love some of the guitar soloing on this. The trippy kind of dropped back section later is a highlight, too. The whole instrumental section that emerges from there is rather creepy and mysterious, making me think of Nox Arcana just a bit.

Identidade

Speaking of creepy, the piano sounds that bring this in, particularly paired with the non-lyrical vocals at the start, really call to mind something from a horror film. As it works forward a lot of that element remains, but the lyrical (not in English) vocals temper it a bit. This arrangement is mostly just piano and voice. It gets chaotic and weird, but is oddly compelling, too.

 
More CD Reviews
Metal/Prog Metal
Non-Prog
Progressive Rock
 
Google

   Creative Commons License
   This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

    © 2024 Music Street Journal                                                                           Site design and programming by Studio Fyra, Inc./Beetcafe.com