August 19, 2010

Reviewer: Chris

Polish Proghma-C isn’t your conventional metal band. Much like the obvious predecessors Tool, they get a pass with the amount of heavy, groove-oriented progressive rock they produce. In fact, the spectrum here is so wide and varied that metal is just one of the place-cards at the band’s table. The outfit’s first effort is quite good, if somewhat expected, but with a couple of flaws.

There is a tremendous amount of Tool worship going on here; now the byline of acceptance here is a bit larger seeing as the original Tool sound is one not often duplicated to such a fine degree. The majesty that was Tool has long since been lost to disheveled musical ventures taking the place of real bands putting forth a true effort. So, in that regard, Proghma-C gets the proverbial pass for bringing that wonderful sound back to some level of viability. There is truly a lot going on here in the way of musical direction, making it tough to nail Proghma-C to any one genre or style. In a track like “FO” you hear some hardcore in the vocals that quickly transitions into the Maynard croon we all know. If you play your cards right you might even get a black metal-like delivery in “Spitted Out”. However, nothing creams out Undertow like “So Be-live”. 

You can tap into ambient, progressive, industrial, hard rock, even pop with its virtual potpourri of inspiration. Some of the more progressive formulas are to be found in a track like “Spiraling TO Another”, which seems to have Phil Anselmo bellowing over a hazy design of beautiful austerity. Often when you are lulled into a false sense of typicality and think the music will follow a certain line you are quickly disrupted and either find it appealing or discouraging. Thankfully, for this humble writer, the peaks-and-valleys are a pretty delightful roller coaster through unambiguous progression.

The only problem I have with some of the music is that it gets old fast, utilizing riffs and passages to the point of mild annoyance long after they should have shifted direction. Some of the repetition serves as a tranquilizer to the musical palate, growing a bit tiresome in a loop. While this is to be expected in most of the industrial efforts in that genre it seems to hinder the flow of the songs here that are otherwise hand-crafted in opposition to some one-step programming on a three-thousand keyboard. The band has a lot to offer by shaking up the kettle a bit more and defying stagnancy from the onset. Other than this, the music here is of a well above-average quality.

Standouts include “So Be-live”, “Spiraling TO Another” and the Bjork cover of “Army of Me”, which was a damn fine effort. If you like that Tool sound and don’t mind some redundancy for measure here and there then check out the band’s Bar-do Travel.       

Release Date: July 27, 2010
Label: Armoury Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Kana
2.  FO
3.  Spiralling To Another
4.  Spitted Out
5.  Spitted Out [Out]
6.  So Be-live
7.  I Can't Illuminate With You
8.  Naan
9.  Army Of Me (Bjork Cover)
10.  Kana (Hervy Mix-Bonus Track)

Total playing time:  73:59

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Proghma-C - Bar-do Travel