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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Teleseen

Fear of the Forest

Review by Gary Hill

I originally had pegged this one to go into the non-metal, non-progressive rock category. The more I listen to it, though, the more I’m convinced it fits into prog rock – at least as much as some of the ambient keyboard oriented music that came out of the 1970’s fits there. Sure, there are a couple raps here, but I can ignore that and put this into progressive rock. Other than those raps fans of groups like Soft Machine will enjoy this set.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2009  Volume 5 at lulu.com/strangesound.

Track by Track Review
Prophecy Is Fulfillment in Mouth of the Land
There are sound effect type elements that start this. Those hold it for a time until percussion joins. Then hints of other instrumentation show up as it continues forward. As it rises up, I'm reminded of something like Synergy, really. This doesn't move far, but it does get pretty trippy at times.
All The Ash That Allowed
The percussion is a bit less prominent here. There are vocals, but they are extremely processed. It’s a pretty track and has a bit more dynamic range than the opener did. The percussion does get more upfront later in the course of this piece.
Black Monday (featuring Jah Sight)
This one’s more like the second track, but a bit stranger. Once again there are vocals, but far down in the mix and quite processed.
Burn Down The Wicked
Far more about sound effects and electronic weirdness, this is another cool piece of ambient music. Although, that said, the percussion is perhaps too active to call this ambient.
Crown (featuring Abena Koonson)
Although the vocals are less processed here, they aren’t free from studio manipulation. They feel very much in line with an R & B motif, but the music itself isn’t that different from the other material we’ve heard. 
East Wind Unification
There’s a lot of world music in this number, but beyond that it’s not all that different from the rest of the sounds here.
Chikurubi (featuring Billy Woods)
Set over the top of some percussion and other elements, this is a stripped down rap.
Factions (featuring Abena Koomson)
The vocals here are processed, but not as much as on some of the other music here. Beyond that, this isn’t all that different from a lot of the other stuff. Truth be told, though, the formula is solid enough to not be wearing thin yet.
The Echo Will Triumph Over The Voice
The first half of this reminds me a lot of some of the more electronica oriented stuff we’ve gotten from Hawkwind over the years. When they intensify this later into a powerhouse musical arrangement it’s some great prog rock. There are some other hints of space rock and this moves into some delicious weirdness as it carries on.
White Worst (featuring Billy Woods)
We get a hip hop type of piece to close it out. It has a very stripped down texture to it and is perhaps the weakest number here. For that reason I question the wisdom in putting it in the closing position. Beyond that, though, it’s not bad.
 
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