Saturday 18 October 2014

Progeland - Gate To Fulfilled Fantasies (2014)




The debut album (I believe) from this Finnish band where the main man also plays in Corvus Stone.

This band and album has been talked about for a couple of years now and the expectations has been pretty big. Ditto for the hype around them. The art work did not exactly dampen the expectations. 

Progeland plays a mix of neo-prog and symphonic prog. All of it with pretty short songs and not the ELP like excesses towards classical music and/or fusion or jazz. I would call this neo-prog though. The sound is a lot more softer and organic than what goes for neo-prog. It is leaning more on the 1970s with a great Hammond organ leading the way. I like that Hammond organ sound. It is helped by some pretty great vocals, guitars, bass and drums.

The songs are very catchy and easy to like. Which in my experience can be a bit of a bad thing too as it can feel a bit worn out after the twentieth time you are listening to it. Anyway, the album is easy digested and it also has got a lot of good details too. It is not one of the most complex albums of all time.

This album is also a progressive rock album with big letters too. No shame in that and I like that attitude. I also think this is a very good album with some great vocals and hooks. There is not really any great songs here. But this is a debut album and one of the most promising ones I have heard from Scandinavia for a long time. Get this album.

3.5 points 

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