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  | BROTHER APE ~ FORCE MAJEURE
PROGRESS 053 (Barcode: 7320470172247) ~ SWEDEN ~ Progressive Rock
Recorded: 2011 - 2012 Released: 2013
This is the sixth album by Swedish Prog trio Brother ApeFind albums by this artist, which consists of guitarist / keyboardist / lead vocalist Stefan DamicolasFind albums by this artist, bassist / keyboardist Gunnar MaxenFind albums by this artist and drummer Max BergmanFind albums by this artist. The album comprises of ten tracks, eight of which include lyrics, one uses vocalese are another one is an instrumental. Damicolas wrote all the music as well as the lyrics.
The music is surprisingly melodic and even mellow, a phenomenon happening rarely in today´s Prog, which has the tendency of "going Metal" almost universally, mostly of course being pretty dreadful. None of that will be found here, however, which is comforting. The vocals and the instrumental work are all quite excellent, using up to date sound and technology, but not overdoing it. The lyrics are in English, as always with Swedish bands; these guys must really hate their own language.
The music is mostly very pleasant, not terribly ambitious but good enough to keep things interesting, which is already much more than most other Neo-Prog groups manage to achieve. This is only borderline Prog and might be easily categorized as Alternative Rock, but who cares about the labels. Sound-wise the music is dominated by keyboards, which can be overbearing, but in this case works quite well. Many different synthesized sounds are placed, layer upon layer, to create a rich, almost symphonic sound at times and then spiced with some good guitar solos. The percussive rhythms played by the drummer are also executed very nicely and are quite inventive.
Overall this is a pleasant album, which does not compromise musical quality in order to sound "nice" but manages to achieve it due to its highly melodic songwriting and eschewing the dreaded metallic distortions. Many older Prog fans will find this very listenable and even surprising. Definitely worth investigation!
| | Updated: 21/09/2021Posted: | CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend |
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