Forget all you hear about this being a prog supergroup.
While the musicians here have a pedigree that includes Primus, A Perfect Circle and King Diamond, that’s irrelevant. What matters is that this is a high-calibre debut album. It’s effectively Dream Theater taken into a more left-field environment, one where they can experiment with unusual audio juxtapositions. So, on a track like I’m Absolute, the melody is of paramount importance, while Where No Grown Up Grapes takes its cue from early Tool. But the real gem here is Feel The Flight, which features some stunning guitar work from Mike Wead, wherein he augments a simple, funky groove with sharp stabs of melodic lead. It works brilliantly, with Matthieu Romarin’s vocals coasting along the bottom of the rhythm. Each composition is individual and gives the impression that the band have yet to come up with a long-range identity. But when you have this breadth of talent on board, you’d expect anything to be attempted – and achieved. This will be marked down as one of 2014’s most significant debuts, and it should also be the stepping stone to what could be a hugely successful future.
