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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Cerulia

The Wishing Tree, Vol. 2: The Birth of a Titan

Review by Gary Hill

It’s a safe bet that prog purists will hate this EP. I still think it fits into progressive rock. Melodic prog is mixed with extreme metal to create something unique and insane in many ways. This is high energy, challenging music that rocks. It’s certainly not for everyone, but if you’ve got an interest in music that challenges the senses, you really should check these guys out.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2012  Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review
The Tree

Starting mysterious and rather atmospheric, this eventually grows out to something heavier, feeling rather like Tool. It’s certainly got plenty of metal in the mix along with killer textures. There are some Eastern elements to some of the melody and there’s a smoking hot fast paced section.  We get some extreme metal vocals later in the cut, too.

Nanabozho
There’s a serious metal edge to the opening of this track. Yet, somehow it seems closer to something like Giant Squid mixed with Radiohead. As a fast paced rhythm section joins, this thing really screams out. It’s got a lot of that Giant Squid like progressive droning sound in place. There are some screamed vocals and this thing is crazed. There is also a bit of a world music edge at times. Later in the cut they include some melodic prog meets metal guitar work and the drumming on this is really crazed.
Nan's Wrath

Another frantic and crazy tune, extreme metal, thrash and modern progressive rock all merge on this beast. Some of the vocals have a real melodic, almost accessible edge. The riffing at times feels like King Crimson while at other points it has a serious thrash element. There are extreme metal vocals as counterpart to the melodic ones. This thing is bizarre and yet works really well. It’s such an amazing mix of sounds.

The Sower

While this features the same basic mix of sounds, it’s also quite unique from the rest. It’s got some of the craziest, angular riffing of the whole set. In addition it has some of the most extreme vocals. Still, the melodic singing is among the most accessible on the EP.

The Widow Maker

Don’t expect any big changes here. This is more of the same, heavy, yet angular, extreme, yet melodic. It’s another smoking hot mix of furious metal with crazed prog changes. While it might not be dramatically different from anything here, nothing ever feels monolithic. There are enough changes in the mix (even within each song) to keep it fresh. These guys are insanely talented and each cut shows that.

 
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