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Mariner is the
amazingly strong second album of the progressive rock band Blue
Drift that released its debut album in 2003. The album is completely
instrumental and therefore a bit less accessible perhaps, but once
you have listened to this album a few times you are surely going to
cherish it.
“Flight of Doom”
comes up very strong and invites you on a roller coaster-trip
through space. This is progressive rock with some heavy elements
that lean closer to hard rock than to metal. They speed it up quite
often and build in a lot of rhythm changes. Percussion and bass are
very important and give the music a kind of adrenaline shot. The
bass riff on “Nuclear Train” is terrific!
Lead guitar and
synthesizers come to the front successively and make the strong
basis complete. Progressive rock lovers will enjoy this album very
much. The music is complicated enough to attract them but not too
far fetched to frighten the more moderate rock fan. They will
recognize some influences of both Genesis and Marillion in a more
accelerated way. On the other hand there are elements that remind of
Tangerine Dream - In “Deep Space” the rhythm is completely left out
in favour of cosmic synthesizer sounds and noises that may have
been inspired by Pink Floyd’s “On the Run” and then the song blends
in a gentle melody with Kitaro and Jean Michel Jarre like keyboards
before it ends with a gorgeous two minutes guitar solo - and so it
happens that this is a very original album.
“Digging for
Chance” is again totally different and shows jazz influences. I must
admit this is not my favourite track on the album.
But what to say
of the guitar on “Half Light”. Dave Lodder play his instrument with
a gentle swiftness and brother John gives a wonderfully complicated
bass support. Arch shows his skills in a short drum solo. Not
obvious on an album these days.
The title track,
finally, is a 21 minutes lasting piece of art, starting with piano
and blending in cosmic synthesizers. The guitar draws the rhythm
into the song and invites bass and drums to join in. The music keeps
on floating from rock to cosmic synthesizers and even has an
acoustic moment. The song is a great composition with complicated
rhythm changes in the way Yes used to produce, although the music
doesn’t resemble this band’s work.
The craftsmanship
and the originality are unmistakable and the album grows every time
you listen to it. Instrumental albums of this quality always make me
wonder what it would be like if the band attracted a good singer.
Blue Drift might just be capable to make a legendary progressive
rock song. |
