RAK: Lepidoptera

Cover	Release	Style
	2005	progressive rock
	Label
	www.circlerecords.co.uk
	Website
	www.artofrak.com
	Contact

	Playing Time	Cat. N°
	62:37
	Review by	Rating
	Marcel	10/10
nederlands	Review
Fans of the neo-prog genre, unite and rejoice, as the genre is not dead or bled dry, but is alive as never before! In 2005 a true neo-prog masterpiece saw the lifelight: Lepidoptera of the Swiss collective Rak. Rak is the name under which the Swiss keyboardplayer Marc Grassi operates. You might remember him from the formation Thonk, with which he released a strong instrumental prog album in 2001, Earth Vision Impact. Thonk unfortunately does not exist anymore, but Marc Grassi has gathered around him a group of talented musicians and recorded an amazing album. The first thing you notice is the unusual cover. You see a forrest, with several cocoons hanging there. In it, you recognize human figures. If you take the cover out of the jewelcase, yo can fold it open and there you’ll see an open cocoon and a girl standing there. This incredible artwork is by the hand of none other than Mark Wilkinson, who in the Fish rea, also was responsible for the artwork of Marillion. The artwork points to the theme of the album. Lepidoptera is a concept album, which tells two stories at the same time: The story of the Monarch butterfly, who changes from a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly and the story of a girl, that is troubled in her life by abuse, fear and brokenness and has to choices that will influence her future. It is not a happy tale, so do not expect light music. No, the atmosphere is comparable with for instance Arena’s The Visitor: dark, heavy prog sounds, with vocals that will go right through your soul. Throughout the entire album, the same theme appears, which supports the concept idea of the album. Initially it was started as solo album by Grassi, so it should not be a surprise the keyboards are fairly dominating. Varying from modern synth sounds, to piano, Grassi works through the whole spectrum of synthesizers in the music, making it a pretty varied album. Besides the keyboards, singer Zoz is the most important factor on the album. He has a powerful, cleane voice, but with the much needed emotion and he knows well to touch the listener. In the line up a drummer is mentioned, Mike Liechti, but no bassist, although the warm bass sound is there and works well with the modest drums of Liechti. The violin and cello are there, but subtly woven into the music, but you have to sit for it, to discover it, yet it does add to the beautiful sound of Rak. In 20 tracks Rak brings her story and from the opener ‘To the Refuge’, you are literally sucked into the music and are you in the rollercoaster that is called Lepidoptera! It is amazing, captivating music, with many drama elements in it, bombastic keyboards, great guitar riffs and a very good singer. Despite the fact the music touches bands like Arena, Fish-era Marillion and a bit of IQ, it should not be compared with those bands. However, here and there you hear familiar keyboard parts, that are found with Arena and even a part that is very similar to the first Enigma album by Michael Cretu, still Rak has a sound of it’s own, that will knock you down and never let you go. Rak is most certainly the revelation of 2005, and really needs your support! The whole world must hear the music of Rak. On their website you can hear samples and order the album. The album is also available at The ProgStore (www.progstore.com) and at Beyond Rock (www.beyondrock.nl). Don’t let this fantastic album pass you by and dive in the wounderous world of Rak.
Musicians
Marc ‘Rak’ Grassi: keyboards Dave-zoz-Thwaites: vocals Sam Siegenthaler: guitars Tobias Reber: touch guitar Mike Liechti: drums Silvana Trepp: violin, vocals Ursine Barandun: cello
Tracklist
To the Refuge Metamorphosis: one Metamorphosis: two Coming to Terms Lepidoptera: Freefall Lepidoptera: Beast Lepidoptera: Savage Dreams Like These The Consequences Metamorphosis: three Those Bright Wings Last Words Requiem Flashback Bumblebee Chase Play Possum Preparation Departure Migration Release
Discography
Lepidoptera (2005)


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