USA 2012
Release date: 9 July
Ray Weston - lead and backing vocals
Brett Kull - guitars, lead and backing vocals
Tom Hyatt - bass, backing vocals
Paul Ramsey - drums, percussion, backing vocals
Christopher Buzby - keyboards, backing vocals
1. Island (YouTube link)
2. Headright
3. Locust to Bethlehem
4. Some Memorial
5. Past Gravity (YouTube link)
6. When Sunday Spills
7. Speaking in Lampblack (YouTube link)
8. The Cardinal and I
Pennsylvania's pride Echolyn is generally labeled as a representant of symphonic progressive rock, which is the most common and easily accessible subgenre of prog. Much like before, on their new album they frequently border on regular mellow rock, not sounding much like prog at all. The more challenging sequences, on the other hand, become all the more surprising for this very reason. Echolyn is really not an easy album to access; it is only very good at giving such a false impression.
The group's previous release The End is Beautiful (2005) is already seven years in the past - a longer period of silence, recording-wise, than what was experienced when they broke up in the aftermath of As the World (1995) only to regroup for Cowboy Poems Free (2000). The long period of perfecting new material can be heard: overall, the new album is an improvement on its predecessor.
In comparison with the hard rock influences of The End is Beautiful, the new album gives an impression of serenity, calm and effortlessness. The previous album definitely had its moments as well, but the more mellow soundscape of Echolyn is not only easier on the ear, but also more melody driven.
The real centerpiece of the entire album is its opening track, Island. A brave choice, considering that a potential album buyer might be turned off by it. Island runs nearly 17 minutes and even though it begins with easy enough rock riffs, it soon delves deep into prog territory that might be a turn off for some potential album buyers. Even I wasn't too crazy about the song to begin with, until a few listenings later. Eventually I learned to appreciate the track which clearly is among the very best of the group's output.
The second track Headright is way easier, and also much shorter. In terms of form it is a much more traditional rock song. This also applies to the following track, the infinitely beautiful Locust to Bethlehem, which proves the maturity of Echolyn and I think it might just be my personal number one favourite on the entire album. This is admittedly a close call with track number 7.
Until now, we have been doing really, really well. But following the first three tracks, there is an additional three that, while still pretty good, are nowhere near as convincing. This is not to say that they are not worthy of the group or this album, but to me, they sound like weaker efforts than the previous three. The mellow, easygoing feeling persists but composition-wise, we seem to descend to only average instead of good or great.
The seventh track that saves the day, is the stunning Speaking in Lampblack, my second nominee for the best track on the album. Consisting of several, distinctly different movements that are linked together and running nearly 11 minutes, we are now again in melodic rock territory: easy to access, with only very minor prog influences.
And speaking of those, they make a magnificient return on track 8 which is the closing track of the double album. To begin with, I totally dismissed The Cardinal and I as a somewhat failed experiment of some kind. Hardly a discernible melody and little else of any interest. Boy, was I proven wrong upon repeated listenings! Now, the closing track is one of my definite favourites on the album: a real stress test for anyone's capability to stand progressive rock.
Echolyn shares the same title as the group's debut, released in 1991. This is a somewhat peculiar choice of title, as it is guaranteed to cause confusion between the two recordings. Already, iTunes informs us that the release year of this new album is 1991, and similar mixups will certainly reoccur.
Another strange choice is the decision to release Echolyn as a double album. The first four tracks have been stored on Disc 1 and the remaining four on Disc 2. This wouldn't be strange in itself, had those two separate discs been recorded nearly full. But no, they are both half empty. The entire combined running time of the eight tracks is just under 71 minutes which means that they would have been easy to fit on a single disc.
The double album status of course has its effect on pricing. The iTunes download alone costs a whopping 17,99 euros in the eurozone, and if you want to buy physical discs that will cost you well over 20 euros, depending on where you make the purchase. This is not very nice. Just look at Dream Theater, many of their albums are about as long but have been released on a single disc and priced accordingly.
Time for closing statements. While the new album's peaks are not as high as some of their previous albums', Echolyn is nonetheless an outstanding effort and what's best about it is its even quality. At best, Echolyn is great and even at its worst, pretty good. The quality "valley" that consists of tracks four through six is not a deep gorge that you want to jump across as soon as you can.
Considering all this, it is my humble opinion that overall, Echolyn is the second best album Echolyn has ever made. Sure, the peaks of As the World are way higher than anything presented here, but that album also contained several really weak tracks that you really do want to jump across. Echolyn has no such failures. It is like a Formula 1 driver that reaches the second place in the championships without winning a single race. It is one of those rare albums that has no really weak tracks. Only the second time for Echolyn.
Yes, that is correct. A decade ago Echolyn already released one album that also didn't contain a single weak track. In fact, it contained only one track. While the new Echolyn is a really, really good album it naturally pales in comparison with Mei (2002) whose title track is the eighth greatest Long Prog Masterpiece of all time. That is the album that the group will hopefully be remembered for, in the decades to come. Get your hands on both, and you have the best possible introduction to this excellent prog group who will hopefully release many, many more albums. I certainly hope we don't have to wait another seven years for the next one.
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