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Hope to Find

Still Constant

Review by Gary Hill

Here is a progressive rock band from a place where I wouldn’t think progressive rock would live – Turkey. So, we get a bit of an oddity factor here from the start because of the home country of this group. Do they need the gimmick? Nope, these guys are great. This four track disc (each song is over six minutes, so it’s still a decent length, despite the small number of tracks) is composed of extremely competent progressive rock. It’s probably closest to Dream Theater, but there are other sounds here, too. I’d highly recommend this to fans of modern progressive rock, but prog purists should find plenty to like here, too.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2010  Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
The Grand Opening

There’s a killer hard rock riff that brings this in. As keys enter it turns more prog-like. As they continue to revise and rethink this piece there are moments that make me think of Rush. It turns towards metal at one point, but then drops down. As the vocals enter I’m reminded of Dream Theater quite a bit. We get a bit of a keyboard solo further down the road and then they take it through some other instrumental territory.

Walking Walls

The first minute or so of this is made up of a rather delicate prog rock jam that’s quite keyboard dominated. They power out from there in some Rush-like sounds, but as it works to the vocal movement it’s more like Dream Theater. The vocals on this are a little rough and hard rock like. The music at times turns more towards classic prog, but overall isn’t that far removed from Dream Theater’s sounds. There’s a killer keyboard dominated jam at the end that’s like a harder rocking version of the opening movement. That lends a great bookend quality to the piece.

Witness of Happiness

They open up with more of the Dream Theater like stylings and carry on like that for a while, with bits that feel like Rush. They take us out later into a more traditional progressive rock sound in a killer instrumental movement that just keeps growing. The keyboards are dominant through a lot of this piece, but all the instruments pull their own weight. The vocal sections are very Dream Theater-oriented, but there is plenty of other, more classic progressive rock, sound on the instrumental movements. This is the most varied and powerful cut to this point of the disc.

City Soul

The musical motifs that open this are nearly metallic. They work through the extended introduction in this vein, but then shift out to more classic progressive rock territory for the vocal movement. This is another great cut. It’s intriguing and a bit of a change from some of the other music here. It tends towards more melodic and there are hints of fusion in the mix. There’s a killer keyboard dominated instrumental movement later, too. We do get a guitar solo past that and it’s very fusion-like and at times reminds me of both Peter Banks and Steve Howe.

 
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