SOUTHERN EMPIRE – Southern Empire (2016)
SOUTHERN EMPIRE is a new band from Australia founded by composer and keyboardist Sean Timms shortly after his former group Unitopia disbanded, and let me tell you this from the start: their self-titled debut is nothing short than awesome.
In the CD press kit the music of Southern Empire is compared to Dream Theater, IQ and Steven Wilson, none of which are suitable as reference points actually, save, maybe, IQ circa 1987-89. Yeah, musically, “Southern Empire” has a Prog foundation, but I would say mostly in concept, the skilled instrumentation and for a long track divided in 9 parts.
But all is focused in the ‘light-prog’ side of things (call it Neo Prog if you want) and to my ears, for the most part, “Southern Empire” is strongly Melodic Rock oriented with lots of AOR passages.
Indeed, one of the striking features of Southern Empire is how they don’t really sound like a progressive rock band actually.
If you listen to the music with half an ear only, the main details you’ll take note of are that the compositions are fairly vocal driven, accessible and compelling throughout, and without too many of the intricate instrument details you tend to expect when listening to a band labeled as progressive rock one way or the other.
Of course, when you start listening closer it does become rather obvious why progressive rock is the only fitting description for the music of this band, and it’s not only due to one of the compositions being an almost 30 minutes long, multiple sectioned suite that this genre description has been chosen.
This self-titled, Timms-produced set is imaginatively conceived from the moment that a needle drops noisily down to a slab of imaginary vinyl to usher in its opening track ‘Show Me The Way’, to the final uplifting ‘Dreams & Machines’, an almost lullaby-flavored ode that’s dispatched with voice, acoustic guitar, gentle bass and keyboards alone.
With such an obvious focus placed upon hummability, lead singer Danny Lopresto is the glue that holds everything together. His voice lends itself to covering Led Zeppelin and Queen on Adelaide’s tribute band circuit, and he’s quite a find, blessed with range and emotion to spare.
All the highly melodic arrangements are in line with late ’80s Neo Progressive Rock bands, and this means catchiness bordering AOR, alternating with and tied into harder edged passages sporting more powerful guitar and keyboard-driven passages with a more distinct melodic hard rock sound.
Southern Empire is a progressive rock act, there’s no doubt about it. But they also display a strong command of melodic songcraft – think Transatlantic wishing they were an AOR band, or some Tommy Denander works.
Yeah, you gotta listen these guys, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
There’s richness to their sound and the material is imbued with a wonderfully even flow. Unlike so many prog show-offs, guilty of over-playing at every turn, Southern Empire subscribe to the theory of ‘less can also be more’. And then we have the catchiness factor: most of the material here is hooky, ear-candy melodic, almost sing-along at places.
Melodic rockers, AORsters and light prog fans, you need to listen this beauty… Do yourself a favor and get “Southern Empire” now.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
1. Show Me The Way
2. Forest Fire
3. Hold
4. How Long
5. The Bridge That Binds
i. Don’t Look Down
ii. The Bridge That Binds
iii. Before You Know It
iv. Turbulence
v. Show Me A Sign
vi. Undercurrents
vii. Let The River Run Red
viii. It All Depends
ix. The End Of My Days
6. Dreams & Machines
Sean Timms – Keyboards, Vocals, Saxophone
Danny Lopresto – Lead Vocals, Guitar
Cam Blokland – Guitar, Vocals
Brody Green – Drums, Vocals
Jez Martin – Bass, Vocals
with:
Tim Irrgang (ex-Unitopia) – Percussion
Adam Page – flute
Steve Unruh – violin on 5
BUY IT !
www.gep.co.uk/store/index.php/cd-s/southern-empire.html
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