It’s been two years since Ice Age burst onto the scene with
\ntheir debut disc
\nThe Great Divide<\/i>… and despite all my predictions, these
\nguys aren’t superstars yet.<\/p>\n
In one sense, that’s a damned shame, since Josh Pincus and
\ncompany proved they were one of the most talented and diverse
\nprogressive rock groups out there since the glory days of Yes and
\nJethro Tull. But in another sense, maybe it’s a good thing that Ice
\nAge didn’t become famous for their first album – especially since
\ntheir latest release,
\nLiberation<\/i>, blows it away.<\/p>\n
Working in all of the same influences that made up
\nThe Great Divide<\/i>, Ice Age – vocalist\/keyboardist Pincus,
\nguitarist Jimmy Pappas, bassist Arron DiCesare and drummer Hal
\nAponte – take the concept of prog-rock and redefine it for the 21st
\nCentury. Offering up songs that have all the hooks that could make
\nthese tracks chart-bound intermixed with brief interludes that work
\ntheir way into the following songs (as well as provide a buffer
\nbetween such epics), this release is, quite simply, excellence
\ncommitted to compact disc.<\/p>\n
From the opening moments of “The Lhasa Road (No Surrender),” the
\nlistener knows that they’re in for an exceptional treat. What Ice
\nAge has learned over the past two years is how to develop their own
\nsound while still paying silent tribute to the prog-rock bands whom
\nthey are following. Pincus still has a set of pipes that reminds me
\nof Dennis DeYoung, yet he truly has come into his own on
\nLiberation<\/i>, developing his own solid style that sets him
\napart from so many other bands in the genre.<\/p>\n
Musically, Ice Age holds its own water very well. Pappas’s
\nguitar work is properly subdued, suggesting that he could pull off
\nsolos that would make Eddie Van Halen’s jaw hit the floor if he so
\nwished. But while there’s plenty of flash in his playing, it feels
\nlike it’s wise that Pappas doesn’t put the pedal to the floor and
\nlet loose with a shredding solo. DiCesare’s bass work is brought up
\njust to the right spot in the mix, illustrating how important his
\ncontribution to the band’s sound is. As for Aponte, he might not be
\ntrying to out-duel Neal Peart on this disc, but he puts forth an
\noutstanding effort in his trapwork.<\/p>\n
Radio is naturally afraid of any song that goes over five
\nminutes in length, meaning that unless you buy
\nLiberation<\/i>, you won’t hear the pure beauty of songs like “A
\nThousand Years,” “To Say Goodbye, Part III: Still Here” and “When
\nYou’re Ready”. For Ice Age’s sake, I sincerely hope that Magna
\nCarta considers doing radio edits of some of these tracks… and
\nthat some rock stations have the balls to program these tracks.
\nAlbum-oriented radio has long been missing such dynamic music, and
\nonce people get a chance to hear these tracks for themselves, the
\nglory that I’ve said Ice Age has deserved since their last album
\nwill be heaved on them at an astonishing rate. Trust me: it’s all
\nwell-deserved.<\/p>\n
I listen to a lot of great music in this job, but I don’t often
\nhear discs which are as memorable as
\nLiberation<\/i>. This is not only one of the best discs I’ve
\nlistened to all year, it’s one of the best discs I’ve ever listened
\nto, period. Break out of the flavor-of-the-month musical mentality
\nand give
\nLiberation<\/i> a chance… you’ll see how wonderful it is to
\nfree your mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7455],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-39488","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ice-age","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39488"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}