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About 5 years after their debut album, Ken’s Novel has released the
successor ‘Domain of Oblivion, due to several circumstances it has
only now reached our redaction. And in fact, it’s a pity because it
could have scored far more better in the lists at the end of the
year 2004. The band has evolved into a different musical direction,
the style is more or less a mix between neo-progressive rock and
prog/progmetal/fusion/canterbury. The musical frame sounds more
mature than before, they have made an appeal to a number of guest
musicians, which gave the songs a lot more variation. The only tiny
drawback could be that the songs are less accessible and
recognizable than on ‘The Guide’, but after a few spins you realize
that this production can do well on the international scene.
Sadfield starts with dark spacey sounds, accompanied by violins and
cello, than a small piece of quiet vocals, where after guitars and
keyboards are taking over. This track is full of mood and rhythm
changes and is illustrative for the rest of the album. Original,
excellent vocals, musically refined, but due to the numerous
variations perhaps not so appealing. This will not be a problem for
most of you, on the contrary, but for the symphonic prog freak it is
perhaps over the edge, certainly within the heavier moments. Listen
for instance at the heavy introduction of Crowd on Sail, but here
again a lot of surprising twists (with some typical eastern
influences) and a catchy refrain. In ‘Empress Of The Frozen Sea’ you
will hear different styles, even some jazz-rock.
After the short and strange ‘Rejected’ Patrick Muermans can show his
talents on the quiet Voices. The trilogy Wisdom Peak starts with a
beautiful guitar solo, which brings you on higher grounds,
references to Camel are obvious. The second part sounds a bit
commercial, while at the end the music becomes darker and tends
towards ‘metal’.
Keyboards are very much present on all tracks.
The Hallucinogenic Lake has a very calm intro (a bit jazzy), but
changes into pure neo progressive rock, mixed with darker,
melodramatic touches (it reminds me a bit of Dead Soul Tribe).
And as ‘pièce de résistance’ we get the title track ‘Domain of
Oblivion’, a song comparable with ‘The Guide’, with again surprising
elements, like the jazzy piano in combination with electric guitar
and synthesizer, they have worked hard on these compositions. The
album ends with Distinctive Signs, a song of Alain Vael, who had a
modest part on the previous album too.
Ken’s Novel belongs to the top of Belgian progressive rock and will
certainly have good reactions abroad. Let’s wait now into which
direction they will continue, but the music lover with an open mind
will certainly appreciate this album. |
