This is the second album by Australian prog rock band Manic Opera. The first was in 2002. Between 2006 and 2010, the band had a self-imposed gap. Maybe the effect of the time lapse prior to “All That Matters” would be a musical representation of a richer life experience, I wondered. In the prog music genre this normally matters.
This double album starts with the title track. What I heard was tinny, bombastic-sounding prog for fans of Dream Theater and Suspyre. Accompanying an obtrusive drum pitch were classically prog-style keyboards and uninspiring, out of tune vocals. All in all, this was no more than average and was to set the tone for the considerable rest of it. It’s not entirely unpleasant but it’s unexciting, directionless and unoriginal. I read through the lyrics but they merely perpetuate the torpor. A bit of an orchestral section appears here and there. As I listened to the floaty complexity of “A Haunting”, I recognised a level of energy and playfulness but again no direction. “United will we stand” warbles the vocalist on the trite “March of the Damned”. It rumbles on aimlessly. Tinkle, tinkle. The light and airy prog rhythm is familiar. Nothing changes very much. The vocalist attempts to inject some passion but if anything waters down the music, which at least is technically nice, and merely succeeds in making the scene pedestrian. It’s like the musical equivalent of carrying out your weekly visit to your local supermarket for groceries. I braced myself for the 9 minute 56 second “Inferno”. It came (twice in fact, as there’s an instrumental version of it later), I heard it and it didn’t conquer. There’s a kind of “Tubular Bells” air to start. The customary frantic little rhythm is struck up. The keyboards, guitar and ever obtrusive drums are fine. The singer is somewhere else. It’s almost Turkish in its time and note structure but it’s not adding up to anything. “Only the brave will rise again”. Fair point, but there’s nothing adventurous about this. We’re on the ninth track “Only the Brave” – if only. It’s got the usual tricky rhythm but in spite of all the intricately-woven technicality, it all seems to be a lot of fuss about nothing. The track ends on a rare high, but that’s only the end of part one.
The second part starts with “A Prison of My Making”. It is a continuation of what’s gone before it. Busy as ever, it lacks pizzazz. “A World Away”, which follows, is a nice track with good touches, but in amongst the technical skill and glut of words, it fails to capitalise on the promised intensity and is typically lightweight. For some reason my mind wandered to thoughts of “My Beautiful Balloon” when I listened to this. But unlike this classic song, in common with the album as a whole I wasn’t transported anywhere. That’s the problem. There was a momentary revelation as the six minute instrumental “Interlude” made me realise this was better without words. Here was proof that the music can speak for itself. The keyboards and guitars enunciated a series of moods. Hey, this is better. Silky and funky, there’s the hint of a cosmic experience as if Pagan’s Mind have dropped in. At last we had excitement and sophistication. Unfortunately we return to the world of the bland song, as “Phoenix” suggests that we should reach for the stars with its progressive power orientation, but for me it stayed on terra firma. The remaining five tracks are instrumental versions of what has gone before, and it’s good to be able to appreciate the technical hustle and bustle without having words to get in the way.
I hear this sort of pure modern prog every year at ProgPower Europe. Many of my fellow spectators there relate to me how they experience a sort of emotional charge which comes from the message emanating from the style of music and the lyrics. I sometimes get that but I didn’t get it here, either in a musical or lyrical sense. What’s more I found no connection between the two. The music is well played but I didn’t get close to emotional heights when listening to “All That Matters”, which in summary I found very humdrum.
(4/10 Andrew Doherty)
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