Welcome to the progressive world of Theater of the Absurd. This US band has been plying their trade since 2006 and seeking to express themselves in a way which reflects their take on modern progressive music and life in general, while respecting the innovation of the prog greats from the 1970s.
I detected no absurdity, just a hint of eccentricity in the delicate piano pattern which followed a calm Opeth-like opening. As I listened to ”False Idols”, I recognised a classic prog band whose skill lays in bright, fresh and colourful rhythmic patterns. The vocals, which cover the areas of falsehood and hypocrisy, have the template Prog emotion. But it’s more than that. Interesting instrumental patterns are weaved, and power turns to heaviness for reinforcement at one point. As “The Lesser Gods”, I detected a similarity to Cynthesis but it’s less mellow and more urgent. Dream Theater are part of this band’s listening experience, I’d say, but Theater of the Absurd are not frightened to experiment with unusual cameos. I’m less keen on the “oh gosh, I’m singing outside myself” which goes with prog territory, but the instrumentals are wonderful like a flourishing garden, capturing movement and sadness on “The Lesser Gods”. Female vocals emerge and are more in tune with the instrumentals. The piano plays its part alongside an authoritative guitar which brings this eight minute piece to a delightfully fluent end. I came to realise that a Theater of the Absurd track is full of content and expression.
The irregular flow of “Trade Winds” was starting to lose me when a special, emotion-sapping chorus took it to the heights. It’s an evocative track, full of energy and vitality yet lyrically introspective – how prog. All these tracks are busy. Operatic tones turn to growls on the heavy and dark “Rising Tides in Still Water”, then the slower and expansive “For Nostalgia’s Burden, Part 1: Our Quiet Fears” turns out to be the ideal vehicle for the emotive vocals. The second part, “In My Time of Solace”, follows and again is a rapid and busy mélange of the emotive, operatic and dark. There’s even a jazz feel about the piano work. Beyond the urgency however, I didn’t really switch into this track as I had with “False Idols” and others. It precedes a strange instrumental which has the feel of modern chamber music. Then it’s time for the more familiar feel of the melancholic “Changing Direction”, which perhaps predictably changes direction with a jazz-infused piano section before expanding into emotional introspection and despair. Yet countered against this is a delightful Hispanic guitar line and as ever, a fresh and vibrant instrumental output. Growls intervene as the music becomes sinister and expressive. It’s an interesting avant-garde mix.
This is an album which needs to be listened to a few times as there are so many subtle elements, particularly in the instrumental range. It is better for being absorbed and allowing oneself to be swept along. While clearly belonging to the prog genre and the principal characteristics that go with it, Theater of the Absurd have created something unique and interesting in “The Myth of Sisyphus”.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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