Let's be clear, '
Touch The Sky' is essentially a Christian praise album. If that's alien to your personal persuasion, then look away now. The simplistic (and occasionally grating) lyrics will just make matters worse.
Purely from a progrock perspective, this is a disappointing approach.
Why? Because it will close a lot of doors to some outstandingly good rock music.
Written and produced by guitarist, John Eargle, with a little help from his highly talented musician friends,
'Touch The Sky' alternately soars and floats, incorporating symphonic rock, progrock and melodic rock in a hugely entertaining and engaging album. It's a metaphorical coming together of Liaison, Idle Cure, Genesis and Trevor Rabin. That Eargle has blended those not too disparate styles into one cohesive whole is still a remarkable achievement.
I have to confess I initially approached the album with caution. My doubts were soon dispelled by opener
'Everlasting Fanfare'. Put aside that Rob Price's earnest vocals are exhorting us to give ourselves up to God. The lengthy musical passages have a marvellously symphonic sweep with some fascinating changes of pace, referencing ELO and
Kansas as well as the bands already mentioned.
From time to time, Eargle lets his wordy lyrics get in the way of the music. The cluttered
'Psalm 51' suffers from an overcooked message. Usually, less is more.
And he gets it absolutely right with the instrumental,
'Disclosure', reverentially (and very satisfyingly) mimicking Trevor Rabin's guitar textures and tones.
Rich with strings and keyboards, the breezily insistent
'Expressions' picks an emotional path through a dozen sub genres, sometimes recalling Traffic's proggy pop, and at others,
Kansas at their most playful.
'Loving Embrace' starts life sounding like one of Idle Cure's whispering, balladic worship songs, before picking up an anticipatory sense of urgency and surging into majesty on a climactic chorus. Clear candidate for album standout.
But in honesty, the standard is high. The powerful - more of a mainstream melodic rock song -
'Grail', and the proggy, poppy,
'You Reached Down' are both high impact, cross genre concoctions .
Fittingly, the album closes with
'Everlasting Fanfare Pt2'. If ever a piece of music was wonderfully apposite, then this is it.
Progrock Records release albums at an admirably prolific rate, often taking risks where others fear to tread. Given a decent chance, Supernal Endgame's
'Touch The Sky' might just prove to be a risk that was worth the taking.
Written by
Brian Thursday, April 8, 2010
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