Reviews
Green color: Sunshine Hill
Blue color: The unbreakable aqua-mask of Europa
Grey color: Descent into the lower World
| Independent,
2002 Closing ones eyes and becoming engulfed in the sounds of Neural
Mass can’t help but take the listener back to a time in rock and roll
when the commercial viability was a secondary consideration to that
of artistic integrity. Hailing from Montreal, Quebec, this trio of
exceptional musicians combines to perform a blend of power/progressive
rock that brings to mind the likes of Yes, Peter Gabrial or Gary Numan
in their heyday. Formed in 1995 by Gary X Floyd (Keyboards, Bass Synth,
Flute, Vocals), Sylvain Rodrigue (Drums, Percussions, Vocals), and
later joined by Mark Tremblay (Guitars), Neural Mass set out on their
endeavor to create music that was unencumbered by the restrictions
felt by many performers of the time. Haunting keyboards are laid down
by Floyd as the base of the majority of songs on Sunshine Hill, fluctuating
from a floating surreal background to a powerful and in-your-face
keyboard rock. Combined with the unconventional styles of both the
guitars and the drums (unconventional in the field of modern rock
that is) and the end result on songs such as Dressed Like You and
Take My Credit Card is a progressive rock flavored fusion jazz sound
that some people (such as myself) are really going to enjoy, and other
are absolutely going to hate. The production value of Sunshine Hill
may be slightly less than a professional sound, but it certainly couldn’t
be called bad. If anything it is a bit flat sounding, and one can
only imagine how the tunes on this disc would pop out at the listener
if this band managed to get into the studio with a top-notch producer
and some money behind them! Overall Sunshine Hill by Neural Mass is
a very enjoyable and pleasant departure from the norm in today’s somewhat
boring and predictable world of established rock wannabies. I am really
looking forward to hearing more from them in the future! Derrick Marr http://www.greatwhitenoise.ca |
|
Neural Mass foi formado no ano de 1992, em Montreal, Canadá, por Gary Floyd (teclados, flauta e vocais), Sylvain Rodrigue (bateria), P.P. Doré (baixo) e Marcel Babin (guitarra e violão). Chamado originalmente BONEHEAD, lançou seu primeiro CD demo "Sick Titilation" em 1994, cujas músicas aparecem no site IUMA. Neste demo já havia boa dose de pretensão e de algo novo, um tipo de Metal Progressivo com grande participação de flautas, violão e guitarra, e uma certa atmosfera dos anos 70. O nome NEURAL MASS surgiria em 1997, com o primeiro álbum oficial do grupo, intitulado "Descent Into The Lower World". Este mostrava visíveis diferenças também em relação à sua sonoridade, tornando necessário o surgimento de uma nova denominação para definir seu estilo, a que chamei "Post-Modern Progressive" (Progressivo Pós-Moderno). O grupo tornou-se bastante sinfônico, embora suas músicas fossem bem diferentes do típico Progressivo Sinfônico ou do Neo-Progressivo, apresentando alguma influência do Progressivo Moderno, e incluindo sonoridades do Pop-Rock, experimentação e excentricidade. O nome "Post-Modern Progressive" foi retirado de uma descrição do grupo que aparecia na página de procura do MP3.com. No entanto, na página do Neural Mass sua auto-definição era "Heavy Progressive". De qualquer forma, NEURAL MASS não mais fazia aquele gênero Metal Progressivo ou Hard Progressivo do Bonehead, embora apresentando muita influência destes estilos. Os teclados pomposos passaram a predominar nas suas músicas, deixando menos espaço para guitarra e flauta. Com vocais bem diferentes do que se costuma encontrar nas bandas progressivas - aparentemente mais inspirados pelo Rock dos anos 90 - o grupo conseguiu fazer algo semelhante a uma aliança entre todos os estilos até agora citados, mostrando uma nova tendência sinfônica do terceiro milênio. Como alguns outros grupos (Big Big Train, Mark-1 e DNDI, por exemplo) mostrou que existem outros caminhos para o progressivo, mesmo sem abandonar a tradição do teclado como elemento importante nas composições. Embora bastante inovador, apareciam influências de grupos como Dream Theater, Genesis, Marillion, IQ, ELP, Rush, e outros, que atravessavam suas músicas. A faixa título "Descent Into the Lower World", a mais sinfônica, apresentava teclados ao estilo Keith Emerson, diversas mudanças de andamento, excentricidades vocais e criatividade de sobra. A maior parte das músicas mostrava mudanças de andamento entre trechos suaves e pesados, estes costumavam ser acompanhados por um vocal meio punk às vezes, embora definitivamente pessoal. De faixa para faixa, surgiam novas surpresas. O ano de 2002 marcou o lançamento de outro interessante álbum denominado "The Unbreakable Aqua-Mask Of Europa". Agora o grupo passava a ser apenas um duo, Gary Floyd e Sylvain Rodrigues, com algumas participações especiais. Neste disco as maiores novidades musicais foram: as ambientações de sintetizador, ocasionalmente acompanhadas pela bateria incomum de Sylvain (como nas faixas "Evaporology" e "Out There") e sonoridades góticas e mais pesadas (como em "Innocents From Earth" e "The Lamp"). O maior destaque foi a excelente "Aquamullet", bem mais ao estilo do álbum anterior, mostrando que o grupo continuava esbanjando criatividade e bom gosto. Lançado no mesmo ano, o single "Innocents From Earth" continha algumas das músicas de "The Unbreakable..." e mais a adaptação de "Prelude II" (de J. S. Bach), esta no estilo Classical Rock. 2003 seria marcado por mais um lançamento deste excelente grupo, desta vez no formato trio, com a adição do guitarrista Mark Tremblay. A música continuava dominada pelos teclados de Floyd, que passaram a soar incrivelmente antigos e modernos ao mesmo tempo, com um estilo bem próprio e interessante, que já vinha se solidificando no álbum anterior. Seguindo em suas inovações, Neural Mass combinava Genesis dos anos 70 com toques de Metal Progressivo, Gentle Giant e algo de RIO ou Sinfônico-Espacial talvez, completados por certa tonalidade dark; paradoxalmente com grande apelo para os mais saudosistas do Sinfônico, e também para os novos "aventureiros progressivos". Às vezes os vocais do grupo mostravam um certo acento Kraftwerk, talvez influenciados pelo grupo alemão ou apenas por uma coincidência. O álbum "Sunshine Hill" realmente é muito difícil de classificar dentro de algum subgênero progressivo, embora algumas de suas músicas apareçam no MP3.com com o rótulo "Metal Progressivo". Para descrevê-lo melhor poderíamos catalogá-lo talvez como "Avant-Metal" em algumas músicas, ou classificá-lo como "Sinfônico de ritmos inusitados e atmosfera dark", ou ainda defini-lo com a seguinte sentença: "um tipo de som bem cheio com elementos eletrônicos, sinfônicos, sombrios, completados por um bateria instigante e mudanças de andamento interessantes". Com certeza um álbum imperdível para os fãs do bom Rock Progressivo. O single "Innocents From Earth" e os demais álbuns estão à venda no site MP3.com. Rafael
de A. Gonçalves |
| Recht
unauffällig und mit einem ziemlich häßlichen Cover ausgestattet kommt
das über mp3.com veröffentlichte zweite Album der kanadischen Band
Neural Mass daher. Allein diese Umstände sollten aber niemanden davon
abhalten, die Musik der bekennenden Planet X - Fans aus Montreal kennenzulernen.
Denn ihr anspruchsvoller eine griffige Schubladisierung verweigernder
Progrock mit Metal-Schlagseite ist nicht ohne Reiz. Er kommt zwar
ohne eingängige Melodien aus, besitzt aber eine nicht uninteressante
Affinität zum improvisierten Chaos. Auffällig ist bereits die Bandzusammensetzung.
Den Kern von Neural Mass bilden Gary X Floyd an den Tasten (incl.
"Bass Synth") und der Schlagzeuger und Sänger Sylvain Rodrigue. An
der Gitarre sind drei verschiedene Musiker zu hören, wobei laut Homepage
Marc Tremblay zur Band gehört. Der Gesang, da kommt man nicht drumherum,
ist leider kaum auszuhalten. Zum Glück wird nur wenig "gesungen",
in diesen Momenten offenbart die Stimme von Sylvain Rodrigue dann
auch, daß sie auf eine abwesend/abweisende und gefühllose Stimmlage
beschränkt ist. Zum Teil singt er auch richtig schlecht schräg, so
daß man den Gesang eher unter "zusätzliche Klangfarbe" einordnen muß.
"Checking'in", der Opener der CD, ist in seiner Eingängigkeit so gar
nicht repräsentativ für die Musik der Band. Hier gelingt es den Musikern
wunderbar die für einen Abreisetag typische innere Aufgeschlossenheit
des Aufbrechenden einzufangen. Gerade der limitierte Gesang paßt hier
komischerweise genau, und gerade er trägt die Atmosphäre des Lieds.
Die letzten zwei Minuten kommen dann ohne Gesang aus und bestehen
aus mehreren hintereinandergeschalteten Soli, die zunehmend an Struktur
verlierend schon auf den folgenden Titeltrack vorbereiten. Hier zeigen
Neural Mass nämlich ihre andere Seite: "Sunshine Hill" ist fast völlig
melodiefrei, stattdessen folgt ein improvisiert wirkendes Solo auf
das andere, und die menschliche Stimme hat nur einen kurzen stark
an Gentle Giant angelehnten Auftritt. Stampfende, einfach gehaltene
(da spontan entwickelte?) Gitarren-Figuren, jaulendes Gitarrengefrickel,
dann plötzlich ein ruhiger Keyboard-Moment ... die Musik steht nie
still. Erinnerungen an Conflict and Dreams, die zweite CD von Cairo,
werden wach. Wer diese wirre CD (wie ich) so richtig in sein Herz
schloß, der sollte auch hier bedient werden. Jedenfalls klingt in
meiner Vorstellung genau so ein spontan improvisiert aufgenommenes
Lied (siehe die von mir vor einigen Wochen besprochenen Naked Elf
- CD, die ja laut Booklet komplett auf diese Weise entstanden sein
soll). Wenn man sich die Komposition ein paar Mal angehört hat, macht
sie auch irgendwann mal Spaß, denn im Chaos gibt es genug zu entdecken
- aber einfach ist es nicht. Die folgenden Stücke pendeln zwischen
diesen beiden Extremen, in "This world is wonderful" gelingt es der
Band am gefälligsten die Mitte zwischen ihren unterschiedlichen Ambitionen
auszuloten. Ansonsten hört man in knapp der Hälfte der Lieder diesen
monotonen oft nicht viel mehr als immer dieselbe Phrase wiederholenden
"Gesang", in den anderen folgt man den Musikern auf ihren wirren instrumentalen
Soloeskapaden. Langweilig wird es dabei auf keinen Fall: Die Gitarre
zeigt sich immer mal wieder von ihrer metalischen Seite, Track 4 wird
durch Handyklingeltöne und unterschiedliche Keyboardklangfarben angereichert
und in den letzten 30 Sekunden der CD taucht plötzlich zur Überraschung
aller eine Querflöte auf, die sich kurz vorstellt, dann aber auch
sofort wieder verschwindet. Nicht verschwiegen werden soll jedoch,
daß das eine ohne andere Lied den Hörer unbefriedigt zurückläßt. Mal
fragt man sich, wo jetzt gerade der "Gag" war, ein anderes mal, ob
nicht weniger Chaos und mehr Ordnung den Hörgenuß gesteigert hätten.
Neural Mass klingen - und das sehe ich als ihr größtes Plus an - auf
ihre Art frisch und unverbraucht. Die Lieder stecken voller Ideen,
viele davon wirken nicht einmal richtig ausgearbeitet und versprechen
ein gewaltiges Potential. Eine kalte Produktion und das Fehlen von
Melodien führt jedoch dazu, daß der Hörer sich der Musik erst mit
dem Kopf zu nähern versucht. Ich prophezeihe mal, daß auf diese Weise
nur die wenigsten mit der Band glücklich werden, dazu fehlt es den
Liedern dann doch an Struktur und den Soli an einer auch den Nicht-Musiker
begeisternden Virtuosität. Geeignete Ansatzmöglichkeiten mit der Musik
dennoch warm zu werden, bieten dagegen die erwähnten "Checking'in"
und "This world is wonderful". Vielleicht ist es dennoch nicht die
schlechteste Idee der Kanadier, die besten Tracks ihrer ersten beiden
CDs demnächst überarbeitet wiederzuveröffentlichen. Georg Heep (babyblaue-seiten) |
| For all
the lovers of the progressive experimental, dark and atmospheric rock
Neural Mass comes. With Sylvain Rodrigue in the singer's role, which
emulates in many passages Peter Gabriel, and Gary X Floyd, in the
composition of the songs, in addition to touching the majority of
the present instruments on the disc. "Sunshine Hill " is the new work
that they present in 2003 after seven years from their formation and
with four works to their credit. This one new work, attracts only
the attention of those accustomed and followers who listen to this
one type of music, which evidently is not for anyone, even not for
the faithful lovers of progressive classic rock, since these Canadian
not only use influences and sounds of King Crimson or Van Der Graaf
Generator, but besides they get in a new spatial and sonorous age,
where the atmospheric thing is basic and the distortions abounds all
over. For this, and for some other different and exclusive moments
of this type of groupings, us, the fans of the classic and traditional
progressive rock, we do not manage to catch the real value of this
music. Nevertheless, and beyond any circumstance I cannot stop recognizing
the structural value and compositions of Neural Mass, who happen for
their best moments in "Checking' in", "Sunshine Hill", "You've got
the Best", "Take my Credit Card" y "Kicked Out". Alexis L. Berman (Planeta Rock) |
| Neural
Mass hail from Montreal and have been around since 1995. The core
of the band is made up of Gary Floyd on keyboards and bass synths,
and Sylvain Rodrigue on drums and vocals. After just one release in
their first six years, they managed two last year, of which Sunshine
Hill is the second. This sudden burst of creative activity presumably
has a lot to do with the presence of Spaced Out guitarist Marc Tremblay
on a number of tracks. Musically, the band quote their influences
as being Genesis, Dream Theater, Planet X, Yes and Pantera. Most of
these influences actually serve to give a rather misleading picture
of the band’s sound, as it implies that Neural Mass might be a neo-prog
band with metallic tendencies, which they certainly aren’t. Planet
X is a more obvious reference point, although whereas Derek Sherinian’s
outfit are obviously very muso-orientated, Neural Mass concentrate
a lot more on capturing a particular mood – generally a somewhat dark
and disorientating mood, and to this end perhaps the best comparators
are the likes of Van Der Graaf Generator and King Crimson, along with
various fusion acts. It’s not really fair to compare Neural Mass to
anyone in particular though, as the one thing you can certainly say
about the band is that they have plenty of ideas and originality.
Opener Checking In gives a fair indication of their general sound
– thick, chunky rhythm guitar, somewhat disembodied keyboard sounds,
busy percussion and fluid soloing from Tremblay. The vocals are half-spoken,
half-sung and somewhat perfunctory, but I imagine this is the idea
– they are more like another instrument than the lead. This song also
demonstrates the band’s willingness to go off on completely unrelated
tangents, with a cheesy but enjoyable organ solo appearing from nowhere
near the end of the track. And it should be said, this is one of the
more accessible songs! Elsewhere, highlights include the oddly-titled
809-665-3105, which features sinister atmospherics (music, weird voices,
various mobile ring-tones!) layered over an insist bass-line, with
a nice keyboard riff which could have come straight from the film
Halloween; You’ve Got The Best has monotone, insistent vocals and
a military drumbeat and could almost have come from a Gary Numan album,
whilst Take My Credit Card features a simple but effective keyboard
line (sounding like its played on one of those cheap Casio keyboards
you got in the eighties!) which works well in tandem with the metallic
riffs that chug away in the background. To be honest only about half
of this album works; some of the tracks degenerate into (or even start
off as) a discordant mess, and there are frankly too many different
ideas floating around for everything to gel. The production quality
also leaves something to be desired. However the band seem to have
anticipated (and accepted) these criticisms, as their next album is
a re-recording of the strongest tracks from both Sunshine Hill and
its predecessor, The Unbreakable Aqua-Mask of Europa. With this in
mind, if this review piques your interest I’d wait for the new recording
– but on its own merits Sunshine Hill is certainly an interesting
and varied collection that will reward patient listening. Conclusion:
6 out of 10 Tom De Val (The Dutch progressive rock page) |
| Neural
Mass Sunshine Hill Second one in 2002 and third CD, \'Sunshine Hill\' is much more rich concerning the sound, three guitarists are playing with Gary and Sylvain and 9 songs from 11 are recorded with guitars. The difference with the previous CD is the addition of many heavy guitar part that give to the music some likeness with band as DREAM THEATER, prog-metal and progressive hard-rock but in general the music is not so different than before except with less ambient/Soundtrack music and it have guitar parts, and it\'s great. As the first one CD but surely still with more style in it, another time full of good performances, I am very happy to know them. That\'s a big prog ! Roughly I found elements as little hints from GENESIS here and there, heavy-metal parts in 5, 10 and 11. I found a little bit of spacey/ambient elements in \'809-665-3105\' which contains a very little Arabian feeling, punk rock in \'Wake up with Her\', HAWKWIND in 3 and 5, psychedelic hints also on 9 and here and there, they are a little bit more soundscape and sound effects at the end of the CD, from the 6th songs till the end, these song are changing so often that is practically impossible to compared them with other bands. Well still better as the previous CD I recommand this one, like I say it\'s big prog. Denis_t 03/05 Proglands.com All rights reserved |
| Neural
Mass: The unbreakable aqua-mask of Europa Second CD of this band in which the core is another time composed by the two same \'Montrealers\', they exists since 1995 as a band and I heard from them only since a couple of month. Just to show you how is the progressive market in Montreal, Canada and where Proglands is also born. Sylvain and Gary recorded in duo with only guitar on the song \'The Lamp\' for this one, all the others CDs were recorded with guitar. I don\'t know about the music on the first CD, but I can say that the big difference with \'Sunshine Hill\' is the heavy rock elements, metal, caming with the guitar playing, but this not mean that it is no heavy elements in \'Unbreakable\' on the contrary they are some well very good heavy-organ sound and others very loud sound of keys as industrial and metallic soundscape. \'Unbreakable\' also seems to be a CD in which they reunite diverses songs musically from different tendacy, generally more than \'Sunshine Hill\'. The first song \'The Unbreakable Aqua-Mask of Europa\' contain two long parts with B3 organ which remind GENESIS like an improvisation between the B3 of Bank and the drums of Collin, and it\'s really obvious especially for the first one, the central part is more spacey an can be compare to ambient music and suspense film music. \'Out there\' start with \"\"Neo keys\"\" héhé what is that ?, then they pursuit with a strange song which seem to became from a mix-of BOWIE and WATERS, very unusual sounding here. \'Innocents from Earth\' is a more rock song and also in the same line as GARY NEWMAN. They pursuit know with a Jazzy-Cabaret comedy with likeness to ZAPPA and Bozzio. It is enought different as kind of stuff for you ? \'The Lamp\' is now a bit funky/Jazz in the beginning, with some very weird vocals. \'Aqua-Mulleta\' is also a song with ambient and film music, very lugubrious this one. \'2:64 on Europa\' is also a song that can be compare to a soundtrack this time with industrial sound and another time very lugubrious, . The CD end with \'Evaporology\' which is like a softer version of HAWKWIND or something like that in the beginning but became more psychedelic and anormal at the end. Finally it can be a good start to know them I suppose with this large outfit of style they blow to us on this very fine CD. Denis_t 05/2003 Proglands.com, All rights reserved |
|
NEURAL
MASS "Sunshine Hill" Label: MP3. com http:// www.neuralmass.com
Neural Mass nous vient du Canada, de Montréal pour être plus précis. Le groupe s'est formé en 1991 et compte aujourd'hui 3 albums à son actif: "Descent into the lower World" publié en 1997 avec un premier line up remanié pour les 2 opus suivants, sortis en 2002, ''The Unbreakable aqua-mask of Europa'' et ''Sunshine Hill''. A la base Neural Mass, c'est Gary X Floyd (claviers, basse, flûte et chant), Sylvain Rodrigue (batterie, chant) et Marc Tremblay (guitares). 2 autres guitaristes font leur apparition en guest: Serge Labreche (pour 3 titres) et Francis Lafortune (sur 1 titre). Musicalement, le groupe offre un progressif assez rock basé sur les guitares et les claviers. C'est plutôt alambiqué et complexe, pas forcement facile d'accès, mais toujours surprenant et intéressant. Des ambiances originales sont développées, ça regorge d'idées (tantôt agrémenté de quelques bruitages) et les musiciens possèdent une belle technique sur laquelle la structure de ces 11 titres s'appuient. Ici, le chant est plutôt discret, place est faites à la musique. La voix du chanteur est basse et profonde (elle me rappelle celle d'un certain Ivan Agosti!). Ce "Sunshine Hill" est globalement d'un très bon niveau et fait honneur au rock progressif dans toute sa splendeur! Maintenant, il est vrai que Neural Mass évolue sans réelle structure derrière lui et ne demande que du soutien pour faire connaître sa musique. Je vous invite par conséquent à contacter le groupe directement (via son site Internet) pour vous procurer ce disque qui, croyez-moi, en laissera plus d'un sur le derrière! Une belle découverte! Denis Perrot (Prog2ni) |
| Neural
Mass is another Canadian outfit, this one comes out of Montréal and
was formed in 1992. Following the good Canadian Progressive Rock bands
traditions Neural Mass captures influences from many styles as Hard
Rock, Progressive Rock, Neo-progressive, Classic Rock, Experimental
Pop/Rock and Progressive Metal, we are talking about a style reaching
from every elements of music, where the compositions feature a wide
variety of instruments, some times with an explosive guitar and some
times expressive, exuberant and solid keyboards, to the better describe
Neural Mass, the band follows influences or something very similar
with "Dream Theatre", "Genesis", "Marillion", "IQ", "ELP", "Rush",
etc... added particularitities that define a special style to the
band, each music with a different surprise, I am sure you won't be
disappointed. "Descent Into the Lower World" is the first release
from the band, recorded and mixed at Studio Victor Montréal, produced
by Gary Floyd and Sylvain Rodrigues. Distribute by MP3.com. My special
and particular attention to the songs: "Silence", "Anthropophagus",
"More Suffering to Follow", "Scratched and Yellowed" and "Descent
Into the Lower World" (is one of the best). Neural Masse are: Gary
Floyd - Keyboards, Flute, Vocals, Lyrics, Sylvain Rodrigue - Drums
and Lyrics, P.P. Doré - Bass Guitar and Marcel Babin - Guitars, Brian
Rabey addltional vocals on "More Suffering to Follow". Today thet
are now recording and performing as a duo comprised of Drums-Vocals
Sylvain Rodrigue & Keyboards Gary Floyd. Excellent and indispensable
work, high recommendable... Carlos Alberto Vaz Ferreira Copyright Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal |
|
Neural
Mass comes from Montréal (Canada) and today it’s a duo living
on the shoulders of Gary Floyd (keyb, bs) and Sylvain Rodrigue
(dr, vc) who recently have released their second album "The
Unbreakable Aqua-Mask Of Europa". The band was born in 1992
and, after the 4 tracks single "Innocents From Earth", in
2000 it releases its real full lenght debut called "Descent
Into The Lower World" recorded with Marcel Babin (gt) and
PP Dorè (bs), a rich and enjoyable collection of prog rock
with hints of Genesis, IQ, ELP, Camel, plus a slice of psychedelic
rock like The Doors used with a great taste making even more
intriguing the listening. Thanks to the perfect instrumental
alchemy, Neural Mass adventure into changes of tempo and atmpospheres
maintaining their own identity even when the sound grows heavier("Antropophagus"
or "More Suffering To Follow"), and the titletrack explain
best (also as sound quality) wnat above written. Today it's
time of "The Unbreakable Aqua-Mask Of Europa" that in the
first songs widens the auditory spectrum to Yes, Kansas, Magellan
and Cairo. Fans of classic '70s prog rock will recognize the
baroque plan that lead the ten minutes of the titletrack and
those majestic, elegiac sounds of "Out There". From now on
we have a total change of atmosphere and it seems to be in
front of a brand new band. Cold electronic walls of "Innocents
From Earth" (recovered from the first single?) and "The Jupiter"
(piano, drums, acoustic bass and voice) frightened me, but
got me ready for the hallucinated "The Lamp" and "Aqua-mallet"
(more melodious, but difficult and tough to listen to anyway.
Also final "Evaporology" is a tour-de-force for my ears which
were so finely used by the lovely harmonies of "Descent Into
The Lower World", but fans of experiments in music may be
interested in it. Lovers of progressive rock must absolutely
secure themselves a copy of "Descent Into The Lower World"
that's a really great prog album, while if you want to approach
"The Unbreakable..." you'd better download the most difficult
songs to have an idea of how they are. Contatti: http://www.mp3.com/neuralmass |
| Another Canadian outfit, this one comes out of Montreal and their mp3 DAM CDR is filled with Progressive Rock that also captures influences from Hard Rock and Experimental Pop/Rock. The first song, "Broken down" is a nice progressive rocker with lots of i nfluences and also good keyboardparts. Up next is "Parasites", a very experimental song and a let-down. Much better is the second part of the CD that let us enjoy 2 very impressive instrumental songs, namely "Anthropophagus" and "Descent into the lower w orld". The first one is a great uptempo 70s typed progressive hard rock with a Hammond sound that even enters a URIAH HEEP kinda direction. The best song of the whole album is definitely closing track "Descent into the lower world". This song is a class y piece of progressive rock, at the start filled with big synthesizers and later uptempo and rocking and still very progressive with many keys. The vocal songs are not as good as the instrumental tracks, so I would advise NEURAL MASS to focus on the instru m ental songs, because these sound really impressive. http://www.geocities.com/struttermagazine/NEWREVIEWS.htm.... Review by Gabor Kleinbloesem |
|
AOR EUROPE (REVIEW) NEURAL MASS: "Descent Into A Lower World" Indie
2001 Review by üEndre "Bandi" Hbner, 11 December 2001 Neural Mass is a Canadian band that plays keyboard orientated progressive rock. To call them a "band" might be a little bit of an exaggeration as the guitarist and bassist featured on this CD have already left the band that - to me at least - seems to be Gary X Floyd's (keyboards, flute, vocals, songwriting) project rather than a band approach. Anyway, the music speaks for itself and progressive rock fans will not be disappointed with it. It has strong touches of ELP and Rush all over it but when the guitars finall y get some room it even reminds me of Dream Theater. However the overall quality of this record is quite far from the "big brothers" mentioned but it has nothing to do with the musicians' ability to play. I especially enjoyed Marcel Babin's guitar work, it'll be hard to replace him. The weakest point of the record is Gary X Floyd's vocals as they are not trained enough to live up to the expectations set by the quality of the music. I also find some of the songs are lacking memorable melodies (it might be because of his limited vocal abilities though). The weak production and the lack of backing vocals and choruses don't help either. The best song of the album might be "Silence" with its partially acoustic arrangement, a really moody title while Rush fan s might be pleased with "Broken Down". On the other hand "More Suffering To Follow" is something I can't really get into, sometimes sounds like some nu- breed band, at others it's like reggae then goes into a really catchy instrumental ending. Why not mak e one good instrumental song out of it and leave the rest?! BTW instrumental fans should give "Anthropophagus" a try, well at least if they do not get scared away with its title… "Scratched and Yellowed" has great instrumental parts again (acoustic guitar - flute arrangement) but the weak vocal melodies and performance kill some parts of the song. The title track gives a real instrumental treatment with its seven and a half minutes length. Being an instru fan I really liked it, however I'm afraid it could be quite overwhelming for people used to catchy hooks and melodies. Nevertheless Neural Mass is worth a check at mp3.com. www.mp3.com/neuralmass http://www.aor-europe.com/a_et_r.htm http://www.geocities.com/aorwebsite/ |