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After a myriad of
compilation albums and live recordings, Hungary’s finest is back
with a brandnew studio album. Don’t be mislead by the album’s title
as “Show” is not the liverecording of a ‘show’ but a selection of
newly composed studiotracks. Looking at the band’s lineup indeed a
few changes have been made not in the least introducing a brandnew
leadsinger. His first lines are : ‘a new world’s coming and the old
one’s gone’ which could of course refer to the fact that the
‘vintage’ After Crying sound is no longer and has been replaced by a
new, more modern sound in order to approach a wider audience. With
all material written by Pejtsik and Winkler let’s hope for the best
so that After Crying remains indeed After Crying.
The opening track
is rather different to anything we’ve heard before but then again
the orchestration is very powerful almost reminding us of
“Spartacus” whilst Batky Zoltan’s voice is accompanied by the female
soprano voice of Andrejszki Judit. For sure this is a different
After Crying sound but still incorporating Winkler’s distinctive
trumpet and Pejtsik’s immortal cello. As always the recording is
cristalclear thus giving plenty of opportunity to detail. Based on
the Arthur Brown caption “there’s only one way out, go bathe
yourself in fire !”, ‘Invisible legion’ contains a fair amount of
orchestral interventions which could be outtakes from a filmscore.
Towards the end some itimate classical cello is added to create a
dreamy atmosphere. Throughout this fine album all arrangements will
be firstclass and will often get close to the kind of arrangements
you’d come across in a classical setting. The balance between loud
passages and intimate setting will also be finely tuned so that you
don’t get an immense contrast. Also by introducing long instrumental
sections and female guest vocals one does not get overwhelmed by
newcomer Batky Zoltan. ‘Welcome on board’ even gets Katona Zsofia as
guest leadsinger whilst interesting synthsounds back Madai Zsolt’s
reliable rhythm. One of the many highlights certainly has to be the
Pejtsik composition ‘Paradise lost’ which of course is build around
the mighty cello. What is rather new is the inclusion of rhythm
machines which change the face of the vintage After Crying sound
towards a more contemporary feel often flirting with rap and hiphop
! Luckily this only lasts for a brief period of time as the main
emphasis lies on the band’s combination of prog, jazz and
avantgarde. ‘Media overdose’ is a news message from Radio
Technopolis which refers to other songs such as ‘Invisble legion’
and ‘Bone squad’ thus turning “Show” into kind of a concept album.
‘Technopolis’ takes us through the installation process of putting a
computer programme on your system and then restarting the computer
in order to reveal a much quicker and vital musical result. Quite an
inventive feature !
In between the
rhythmic nature of some of the songs comes the short intimate
tribute for Béla Bartok as written and played by Winkler Balazs on
grand piano only. Some fans might find it difficult that the band
often introduces elements which are not typical After Crying. Take
‘Wanna be a member’ where the band’s previous singer adds a couple
of verses of authentic rap ! However everything is nicely
compensated due to the inclusion of the epic ‘Secret service’ which
contains tons of elements to even please the more demanding progfan.
Again the
orchestral programming is of the highest quality nicely contrasting
with the sparse interventions of the electric guitar. Part two
switches towards an acoustic setting which even flirts with medieval
atmospheres also including an excerpt from Ravel’s “Bolero”. The
sound of the grand piano simply is outstanding and proves that the
personnel of After Crying consists of top musicians with a lot of
understanding for music whether it’s composing, arranging or
recording. Once again Ravel’s Bolero theme is incorporated but this
time steering the song into a more avantgarde direction with sounds
coming from all sides. By adding both Bolero elements as well as a
snippet out of King Crimson’s ‘Danger money’, the band perfectly
illustrates their superb skills in combining original work with
already existing material. ‘Farewell’ is kind of a combination
between folky material and contemporary rhythms resulting in After
Crying meets Massive Attack if you know what I mean. I quite like
the melodic synthparts as well as the electronic tabla which puts
the spice into the song. The album closes with ‘Life must go on’ an
uptempo composition driven by synths and brass which once again
carries elements from various sources before it erupts like a true
musical volcano.
I’ll be very honest
with you in telling you I am a BIG After Crying fan liking virtually
everything they do but this time around it took me a while to really
get into their music. “Show” is different to everything they did
before emphasizing on a much more contemporary sound however without
losing track with their past. So yes it still is After Crying but
it’s Hungary’s finest definately rooted in the 21st
century. The result is intriguing material which demands more than
one spin but with this quality CD in your player you’d be more than
happy to do so. |
