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Having outgrown their position as an opening act, the Dutch band
Ricocher has come out with their latest album called ‘Chains’.
This is the follow up album to ‘Cathedral of Emotions’ and it’s very
mature music. The beautiful artwork from Mattias Noren can be
seen once again, as well. The production is solid, the songs
have nice melodies and the compositions are top notch. Bart
van Helmond’s guitar playing is especially good. There was a
lot of effort and attention put into this guitar work and it has
paid off.
The first song, “Virtual Images”, is split up into three pieces and
mainly refers to Clepsydra, in terms of style and arrangement.
The guitar has almost the same sound, but Erwin Boerenkamps sings
better than Aluisio Maggini. “Empty Chambers” starts off in a
calm way but then grabs your attention starting from the first riff.
You hope to hear more of that throughout the album. The
transition to the up beat “Beyond Terms of Humanity” reminds you a
bit of Europe, but then with a recognizable neo-prog style added on.
It’s here that Erwin’s singing style reminds me of Pavlov’s Dog!
Once again, there are very nice guitar pieces that make a transition
to the best part of this first song. “Out of Control” has a
riff that reminds me of “Il Est Trop Petit”, but then played even
better. It’s here that the singing wins the trophy.
Erwin repeats himself in a sort of echo that will stir up memories
for any Fish fan. You get that retro feeling, but
it’s all in the correct proportions. And Bart’s fantastic
solos on guitar give you goose bumps! It’s a great song.
“Bitter Tears” begins with some wonderful piano playing that builds
up beautifully and then ends with a great guitar solo.
“Sand in Your Eyes” contains three parts. Part one,
“Perception”, is made up of extensive keyboard playing, sturdy
guitars and a heavy rhythm. The great riffs and the sufficient
variations show the maturity of Ricocher that we hear today.
“Reflected”, the second part, brings a bit of calm through the
combined use of beautiful keyboard playing (John van Heugten) and
guitar picking, as well as a saxophone solo by special guest Mario
van Ooy. And just like the other three part song, the third
part is the highlight of the song. “The Silhouette of You”
also has a powerful guitar riff that would do very well as a live
song.
“Whispering Voices” is a typical prog song that you want to sing
along with, thanks to the key sentence “she whispers (calls) (cry)
out my name”. The guitar solo here is the best one on the
album! The two part song, “Locked Inside”, starts off with a ripping
guitar performance. “Misguided Lights” is the noticeable
resting point on the album and it reminds me of Arena. There
are typical prog keyboards that lead the song into a more rhythmic
one, which actually is not in the Ricocher style, but contains more
traditional elements.
A
drum computer is used in the intro to “Point of No Return” and this
gives you a wrong impression of the song. You think that it’s
going to be a very modern song, but after the electronic drums fade
out, it just continues as a great, powerful rock track.
The last song (and the title track), “Breaking the Chain”, also has
that prog metal sound. I would say that the most surprising
prog songs were the first five ones, but the second half of this
song wraps up the album very nicely. This latest album from
Ricocher is definitely a mile stone in the band’s history.
This third album should attract some interest from a ‘wider’
audience within the prog scene. But if it doesn’t, then you
really can’t blame the band for that! |
