Music Banter - View Single Post - Anteater Presents: An Essential Guide To Modern Prog.

Anteater · 12-05-2009, 07:28 PM

1.

Ritual – The Hemulic Voluntary Band (2007)

1. The Hemulic Voluntary Band (4:53)
2. In The Wild (5:53)
3. Late In November (4:56)
4. The Groke (6:05)
5. Waiting By The Bridge (4:36)
6. A Dangerous Journey (26:33)

Armed to the teeth with manic creativity and the instrumental, vocal and conceptual chops to bring it all to life, Ritual's 4th studio album from 2007, The Hemulic Voluntary Band, could not have arrived on the scene in a more opportune decade, when most prog. bands seem strapped for ideas and cycle through the motions on each subsequent release. Chugging guitar, pounding piano and viola, basslines which snake and coil themselves into knotted shapes, and the unusual yet intriguing vocals of one Patrik Lundström all meet together as one whole to fishhook your auditory senses and reel you up into a new world.

This, my friends, is Ritual.

The assault begins abruptly with the Eastern-tinged title track, starting off with an intro that brings to mind groups such as Gentle Giant and individuals like Frank Zappa to mind before Lundstrom's vocals come in and transform the song into something anthemic. "We're ready to play!" he assures as the quirky bass & colorful keyboards nod to one another and duel. A real fun and knotty start to an album that only winds tighter the further along you go.

Track numero dos 'Into The Wild' once again breaks the mold with a drum and piano burst before mellowing and swelling wonderfully with the vocals at various points. At 2:45 however things take yet another turn by going into a sole, beautiful piano piece of all things up until the 3:50 mark where we are brought, after some nice distorted guitar soloing, back to the main theme.

What comes next is the first major highlight for me personally, a folk piece called 'Late In November' which reminds me of Yes crossed with Tim Buckley but with a touch of something else that is undoubtedly Ritual lodged somewhere within the proceedings. The fiddle and other traditional instruments are a nice touch also. 'The Groke', on the other hand, is a plodding dirge of a rock piece where the piano and Lundstrom's vocals have taken on airs on unmistakable menace, focusing in on the fear of mankind that nature has of us.

Still, my favorite track here is without a doubt one of the most entertaining proggy pieces of the last twenty years or so, 'Waiting By The Bridge'. The song is basically Scandinavian funk-meets-Yes masterstroke delivered in four minutes and thirty nine seconds, and its absolutely perfect in every way. The guitar and bass especially kick ass from the 2:33 mark onwards and should get anyone's feet tapping without much trouble.

But where would any self-respecting progressive rock album be without an "overblown, pointless and meandering" suite to close off the musical procession? Well, 'A Dangerous Journey' is certainly long at nearly half an hour in length, but contrary to expectations...its actually pretty damn cohesive and interesting through start to stop. For one thing, the multiple traditional folk instruments from 'Late In November' are melded to the more traditional crazy rock instruments from the last few tracks from the very start of the track, and it sounds absolutely KILLER coupled with this album's high production values. And within the first four minutes, Lundstrom literally blees his voice to octave registers you wouldn't believe, and the rest of the track follows this jaw-dropping opening section as naturally as could be. By the end of this, you will be tired...but happy & impressed as hell as hell could be.

So why is 'The Hemulic Voluntary Band' at #1 instead of Sigh, King Crimson or the Ozric Tentacles?

Well for one thing, the playing here is some of the most spirited and invigorating as I've encountered on albums within the genre - its almost as if Gentle Giant circa Octopus back in 1972 gained modern production values and crossed over with Jefferson Airplane instead of being all medieval. Secondly, Mr. Patrik Lundstrom is an extremely talented vocalist and lead guitarist; in terms of just his voice alone, I don't think I've heard anyone sound quite like him. And finally, the album is succinctly structured and painstakingly arranged on a pure songwriting level; everything contrasts but flows together, but not in the typical prog. "make everything one big track" way. There's just something different here.

So to close: In terms of sheer variety, musicianship and accessibility, Ritual are among the most cunning and attention-getting outfits you can find on the scene today. Essential modern progressive rock, perhaps even a landmark in modern music as a whole, and most definitely deserves to be heard by a much bigger audience than just fans of the genre: its a masterpiece for everyone who wants to hear good music played with joy, fervor and imagination.