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Non-Prog CD Reviews

Salim Nourallah Jesus of Sad Review by Gary Hill I previously reviewed a longer set from Salim Nourallah. I said that the individual songs on that disc were strong, but that as a whole it had a tendency to be too samey in terms of tempo and vocal delivery. This set does not suffer from that problem. Part of it might be that there are less songs here. Part of it, though, might be that Nourallah is maturing as an artist and mastering his craft. Either way, this is more effective. The music here has a real alternative rock edge while also showing off a lot of retro style and charm. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2021 Volume 3. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2021.

Track by Track Review

Jesus of Sad A folky kind of groove is on display here. This has an indie rock vibe as well.

Born with a Broken Heart I dig the alternative rock vibe on this. The song has a cool retro rock vibe. It has some catchy hooks and some great Americana. I dig the edgy section that takes it later in the tune. It gets a little funky and very classy.

This Doesn't Feel Like Peace, Love, Or Understanding Another rocker with both alternative modern sounds and classic rock concepts at play, this works well.

Misanthrope Piano brings this tune into being. The vocals come in over the top with just that one instrument as the backdrop. After a while some other instrumentation and textures join, bringing both modern alternative and classic rock textures with them. This gets pretty involved and potent before it's over.

Misanthrope (Piano Version) Here we get an alternate version of the previous cut. I guess you could figure that out from the title and parenthetical, right? While piano was present throughout the other version, it fell more toward the background on that take. Here it remains the only instrument throughout. I think I like this a lot better.

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