Bandless Abandon End of the End Review by Gary Hill
Combining progressive rock with psychedelia, alternative rock, metal and other sounds, “End of the End” is a cool release. The version reviewed here is the physical CD. The digital version includes one extra song.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2012 Volume 1 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
Come Back to Me
This comes in quite metallic, but quickly drops to melodic progressive rock that’s fresh and quite tasty. It works through a number of changes and there’s a tasty guitar solo.
The Cycle The rhythm section to this tune has a cool groove and the vocals bring a spacey, psychedelic texture.
End of the End A hard edged, nearly metallic, off-kilter jam serves as the central musical concept for this one. It’s a bit odd, but also very cool. There are bits of psychedelia lain over the top as it drops back a bit for the vocals.
Dragon Slayer Seeming to combine melodic prog with psychedelia and other elements, this is one of the most accessible cuts on show. It’s also one of the highlights. Considering how much I like the rest of the stuff here, that says a lot.
Take Me Away They start this off with a more straight ahead hard rock sound, but shift it towards more melodic sounds for the vocal sections. Somehow parts of this (mostly the vocal performance) make me think of REM a bit.
