This is the latest release by the creative Norwegians known
as Motorpsycho. It is a double LP with a fantastic inside artwork, like nothing
they have ever had in any of their other records. They are joined by keyboardist,
Ståle Storløkken. They just keep progressing and really pushing themselves and
challenging the norm. This is a real progressive orchestral rock record. It is
inspired by Owen Chase’s, The Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex, “In the heart of
the Sea” by N. Philbrick, and the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian. It
opens with a very special orchestral jazz ting that leads into the psychedelic
rock monster. The Hollow Lands, with these cool orchestral sections that come
in and out. It really rocks at times as well. Through the Veil Part 1, starts
with a really jazzy horn section (Trondheim Jazz Orchestra) and then a heavy
bass line kicks in and the band really get a groove going with some cool guitar
lines. Bent sings very confidently with a bit of effect on the voice. A little
King Crimson like part comes in eventually as there is a lot of interaction
with the horns. The keyboard solo at the end of this track is super cool. Great
song. Side B starts with Part 2. It starts intensely and then gets a bit bluesy
and relaxed and spaced out with a solid bass line holding it all together.
Doldrums is a short keyboard horn piece that is pretty spacey and leads into
the song Into the Gyre. It is a pretty melodic normal track at first but then
goes into Gentle Giant like material except for the intense violin soloing as
the track really gets psyched out. Another short Storløkken compostion closes
side B. Oh, Proteus- A Prayer starts side C with a slow growing spacey mysterious
orchestral piece but with vocals by Snah and Bent. Sculls in Limbo sounds like
a monster crawling out of the sea to attack. La Lethe is mostly an orchestral
piece with high emotional content as it slowly grows with some really cool
horns. It takes a long time before the rock band takes over as they are a bit
dwarfed by the large sound of the orchestra. At the end a fantastic sax solo is
played as the mood of the piece really shifts towards a happy feeling. Oh-
Proteus- A Lament is a very short piece bringing back the sound and feeling of
the opening of the side. Side D starts with the melancholy number Sharks, with
nicely arranged horns and strings (Trondheim soloists 9 of them). It really
grows over time and becomes very intense. Mutiny appears very abruptly out of
Sharks and is another progressive hard rock track, which the record really
needed at this point. It gets really cool with the orchestra battling with the
horns who are taking on the drummer, who is really rocking. Into the Mystic
brings things down again and closes the storybook with an uptempo track.
Musically they have really nailed it as far as bringing
across a really emotional piece of music that you could easily see set to a
play or movie. The live concerts on this tour will be pretty cool and special.
Sorry I did not get to see any of them.
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