It’s beginning to look a lot like this year is likely to be dubbed the year of the prog by future music generations. As if the cornucopia of quality prog releases weren’t already overwhelming, the seasoned US proggers, EARTHSIDE, decided to enrich our lives with yet another absolutely banging prog album before the year is done. The new album follows on 8 years after the band’s haunting 2015 debut “A Dream in Static,” which introduced us to their wild and unique stylistic diversity. Entitled “Let the Truth Speak,” the endeavor is due out on November 17th, 2023, via Music Theories Recordings. The album appears to ask us something rather salient; if truth is so important, so hallow that we hold it as perhaps our most sacred tenet, then why do we go to such great lengths to deny it the moment it makes us uncomfortable or goes against our narrative? Befittingly, this mind-boggling selection features myriad vocalists and other guest musicians from all corners of the globe in order to bring different facets of its universal theme to the light. I cannot help reminiscing on that Orwellian insight that, in a time of deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. These prog ruffians make sure that this revolution is not of the quiet type, though.
Right off the bat, the album sets things in motion with a rather cinematic flourish. The opener, “But What If We’re Wrong,” is driven by a mesmerizing mallet motif in quintuple meter, courtesy of the Brooklyn-based percussion quartet, SANDBOX PERCUSSION. It is nothing short of epic, let me tell you, when the band instruments begin to adorn this off-kilter mallet ostinato with their progressive flavor. This is perfect soundtrack music for contemplation with your eyes closed; after all, contemplation is something far more than simply thinking about something on the surface level – it is the direct imbibing of a universal truth at some great emotional and mental depth, which, given the album’s overarching theme, is more than appropriate here.
Next up, “We Who Lament” unfolds as a 9-minute prog epic, featuring Canadian singer Keturah. She poses the poignant question, “To be free or fearful?” and the music captures the essence of this inquiry by resonating with the air of innocence, vulnerability, and fury in just the right proportions. The lyrical lens seems to be directed at the fundamental flaws in our modern world almost as though paraphrasing the oft-quoted Krishnamurti wisdom that it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. Yes, it is beginning to look like this new album is more universal in its approach compared to the somewhat introspective debut.
The Indian metalcore outfit, AARLON, has lent their vocalist Pritam Adhikary to contribute vocals to “Tyranny” and his slightly raspy tone, let alone the whole song with its immersive, atmospheric sound, is nicely reminiscent of the British prog juggernaut OCEANSIZE, especially their first couple of albums. The strings, whether real or synthesized, add a nice cinematic depth to the song – and halfway into the song, the atmospheric section driven by a haunting bassline is really something to give you goosebumps.
Vocalist AJ Channer of FIRE FROM THE GODS, contributes vocals to “Pattern of Rebirth,” in turn, and his rich, dark tone paired with the song’s atmospheric coating and quantum riffs trigger some nice SEVENDUST flashbacks – that Atlanta bunch did just recently release a banging new studio album too! Yes, this year is proving to be a gift that just keeps on giving. The lyrics deal with the timeless truth that is perhaps best captured by the words of Charles Bukowski when he wrote, “You have to die a few times before you can really live.” The same sentiment is expressed in the words attributed to Siddharta Gautama, who is said to have put it this way, “Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.” Once we’ve come through to the other side, regardless of whether it happens on an individual or collective level, I guess, our new self may feel a bit raw, vulnerable, and wary. That’s the impression I got from the song; do I even need to say, ”Wow?”
The only track not to feature prolific guests, “Watching the Earth Sink,” is an instrumental prog offering that is nicely reminiscent of both TESSERACT‘s quantum prog and the atmospheric beauty of the latest album by THE OCEAN. They say that there is some significant overlap between spiritual experiences and psychosis – for example, the thrilling sense of imminence, heightened visual and auditory perceptions, and a drastic change in the passage of time. Sometimes music has that very same effect – and this album is proving to be such. Just try and listen to this with your eyes closed!
I didn’t plan to dissect this album on a song-by-song basis but, as each track is so uniquely breath-taking, I guess I’ll just have to do so. Thus, next up, “The Lesser Evil” features Larry Braggs of TOWER OF POWER and jazz musician Sam Gendel on saxophone of some sort. It’s actually funny to bump into a TOWER OF POWER reference on such short notice after reviewing the new ADVENT HORIZON album. I mean, you don’t come across a sonic brew like this for years, if ever, and then, all of a sudden, it’s all over the place! You see, prog metal and funk don’t mix very often and, especially, not as magnificently as in both of these two cases. Here, the impression is something like EARTH, WIND & FIRE switching into prog-metal gear. Who would have thought it sounded this awesome?!
There is also a school of thought insisting truth is that which can never be spoken. “Denial’s Aria” might refer to this particular philosophy from a highly personal perspective – we often tell lies to ourselves for a number of reasons and the lyrics kindly suggest us to put a stop to it. The song features haunting vocals by Keturah and singer-songwriter Viktorija Kukule, who is better known by her artistic alias VikKe. Along with the atmospheric performance of New York-based DUO SCORPIO, comprising harpists Kathryn Andrews and Kristi Shade, they lend a somewhat bone-chilling, Kate–Bush-like air to the song.
The atmospheric streak continues in the brief, ambient interlude, “Vespers,” which features some non-lexical vocables by VikKe and Gennady Tkachenko-Papizh, the latter of whom has become renowned across Europe for his incredible vocal talent after having appeared on the Georgia’s Got Talent TV show. For me, this breather triggered pleasant flashbacks of some of Björk‘s atmospheric endeavors from the 1990s. The title refers to the service of evening prayer and as such it is quite an apt title for this ambient piece.
The title track is placed as the penultimate, explosive epic and, to be honest, it carries such a profound feeling of culmination that it should perhaps have been placed as the album closer. It features a full string section (an overarching element on the record) and jaw-dropping vocal performances by Tkachenko-Papizh and TESSERACT frontman Daniel Tompkins. It is rather intriguing to realize that Mr. Tompkins has contributed his indomitable vocal dexterity to both of the two most impressive prog endeavors this year – TESSERACT‘s new album and this EARTHSIDE effort right here; it’s almost as though he has made a pact with the devil or something.
Ahead of the album release, “All We Ever Knew and Ever Loved,” which does the honors of bringing this sonic journey to a close, was released as a video single, featuring Baard Kolstad of LEPROUS on drums. The music video won the award for Best Music Video at the United Artists International Film Festival. Well, it is pretty haunting, just like the song itself. The churchy organ ostinato recalls the epic soundtrack work of John Murphy – “Adagio in D Minor” from the movie, Sunshine, in particular. So, if this doesn’t send shivers up your spine I reckon you need a spinal fusion surgery or something. To cut a long story short, this album is criminally awesome.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- But What If We’re Wrong (feat. Sandbox Percussion)
- We Who Lament (feat. Keturah)
- Tyranny (feat. Pritam Adhikary of Aarlon)
- Pattern of Rebirth (feat. AJ Channer of Fire From the Gods)
- Watching the Earth Sink
- The Lesser Evil (feat. Larry Braggs & Sam Gendel)
- Denial’s Aria (feat. Keturah, VikKe & Duo Scorpio)
- Vespers (feat. Gennady Tkachenko-Papizh & VikKe)
- Let the Truth Speak (feat. Daniel Tompkins & Gennady Tkachenko-Papizh)
- All We Ever Knew and Ever Loved (feat. Baard Kolstad)
Lineup
Jamie van Dyck – guitars, backing vocals, programming, keyboards
Ben Shanbrom – drums, backing vocals
Frank Sacramone – keyboards, synths, programming, percussion, guitars
Ryan Griffin – bass, backing vocals
Label
Music Theories
