Renaissance<\/a> have been doing it for decades\u2014but it remains rare, just as prog remains an overwhelmingly male genre in terms of both players and fans. (I can\u2019t really explain that\u2014just as I can\u2019t explain why my wife enjoys some prog but has a visceral dislike of all Yes music\u2014it\u2019s just another curiosity to ponder.)<\/p>\nAt first I was a bit skeptical of The Antikythera Method<\/i>; the album starts out with two vocal tracks that start out feeling overly light and airy. Both feature Larson\u2019s breathy, pleasant voice without really offsetting or challenging it\u2014until a little over a minute into track two (\u201cShadow Song\u201d), that is, when Fournier abruptly asserts control and plants a ripping good guitar solo on the ceiling. All of a sudden it seems that a balance might be struck here.<\/p>\n
As \u201cAll For One\u201d opens, the focus turns to piano and high-hat heavy, jazzy drums, taking on a sort of loose, early Pink Floyd vibe, although the distorted guitar that joins in is more \u201980s in feel. The aptly-named \u201cBoomer\u201d is where they bring on the full heaviness Centric Jones is capable of, presenting an almost prog-metal approach in this powerful, driving instrumental with hints of Rush in the fat bass lines and rich guitar-synth interplay. About four minutes in, it veers into a much more mid-tempo, soaring, sunny style, one of those abrupt shifts that epitomizes prog.<\/p>\n
\u201cDream In Threes\u201d is primarily instrumental but with a few vocal passages; on this one the vocals don\u2019t feel like they mesh as well even though the music offers plenty of space. \u201cPyrrhic Victory\u201d has a nice opening with melodic keyboards and a big, spacy, unusual drum figure underneath. It has kind of the feel of Trick Of The Tail<\/i>-era Genesis or Signals<\/i>-era Rush, and left me wanting more when it faded out at just 2:24.<\/p>\n
From there you get variations on what went before. \u201cFading Time\u201d begins as a dreamscape but picks up a throbbing, rhythmic energy along the way. \u201cSave Me\u201d is a long, spacy instrumental offering especially nice guitar work in the late going, the kind of stealthy-smart background music that massages and stimulates the neurons as you\u2019re thinking about something else.\u00a0 \u201cThen\u201d is a dynamic cover of the early Yes tune that morphs faithfully through its multiple musical identities and features long, fluid organ runs. \u201cPulse\u201d feels a bit out of place, a traditional rock song with female lead vocals that could pass for Evanescence in places, except for the little wonky guitar figure that sits in the middle of the main riff. Instrumental closer \u201cAntikythera Mechanism\u201d finishes this album off in pleasantly odd fashion, bouncing through a plethora of time signatures, weird riffs and out-there synthesizers, a bit of a sonic collage.<\/p>\n
Like Britain\u2019s Big Big Train<\/a>, Centric Jones has taken the classic prog style and updated it with sharp, pristine digital production, taking elements of the old\u2014for example, their orchestral synth washes feel like a straight homage to early Moody Blues\u2014and making them into something that feels fresh and new. These guys might not be making music on the level of a BBT yet, but there\u2019s a lot to like on The Antikythera Method<\/i>, numerous moments and passages that deliver genuine impact. They\u2019re still on their way, but they seem to know where they\u2019re headed\u2026 it should be an interesting journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8837],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-42618","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-centric-jones","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42618","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42618"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}