Brother Ape - On The Other Side


Year of Release: 2005
Label: Progress Records
Catalog Number: PRCD014
Format: CD
Total Time: 48:26:00

Evaluation:

Brother Ape wears its fusion influences on its collective sleeve, and presents a chops-laden foray into commercial songwriting with varying degrees of success?

Analysis:

Let me get this out of the way immediately: Guys with high pitched voices who try to sing sensitively, breathily, or worse, "soaringly" must stop. Now. Almost as cringe-inducing as the emasculated vocal delivery, are English lyrics written and delivered by Swedes. People, the letter D is not pronounced like a T?

That said, Stefan has excellent vocal technique, and delivers excellent pitch, and his performance on "Unaccomplished" is excellent.

Musically, the band is a powerhouse ? Stefan also provides killer guitar chops ? impressive legato technique, tasty phrasing and admirable restraint. Max (drums) has impeccable timing, and plays across bar-lines like any self-respecting fusion drummer ought to, providing propulsion and dynamics effortlessly. Peter (bass) is solid and fluid, emphasizing note choice and rhythmic drive over flash. "Gurra" (hmmm ? wonder if that's his real name*) lends harmonic support to the proceedings with textural keyboards and, thankfully, refrains from that bane of all prog rock, keyboard soloing ?"Unaccomplished" is a superb example of the instrumental prowess of these guys?

The songwriting is uneven in quality, ranging from cheesy 80s inspired balladry to absolutely incendiary fusion-laced prog ? thankfully the heavy-weight material far outweighs the couple of "lighters in the air" moments?

Rating:

4-/5 (the minus is for ? you guessed it ? the vocal delivery?)

Summary:

Excellent, well composed and arranged fusion-tinged prog-lite?


Tracklisting:
The Jerk (5:04) / Waiting For The Sandman (4:37) / I Freak Out (4:59) / Railways (4:50) / Clockworks (5:24) / This Hour (4:45) / Unaccomplished (4:15) / Farewell Song (4:31) / Lucky Fool (2:03) / On The Other Side (7:53)

Musicians:
Max Bergman - drums, percussion
Stefan Damicolas - guitars, vocals
Gunnar Max?n - keyboards, vocals, bass
Peter Dahlstrom - bass, vocals

Discography:
On The Other Side (2005)
Shangri-La (2006)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin SE

Added: January 20th 2006
Reviewer: Jan-Mikael Erakare
Score:
Artist website: www.brotherape.com
Hits: 2479
Language: english

  

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