From the prog stable of Layered Reality Productions comes this fifth album by Italian quintet Soul Secret. The band’s keyboard player made an interesting observation when talking about the theme to explain “Blue Light Cage: “People think they are actively taking part in life, but actually they are just watching others doing things”. I wonder if he’s met or read anything by Alan Bennett?
The opening sequence – that’s the title of it – is a lovely warm-up. Lively, vigorous and keyboard-inspired, in a good way it has TV theme tune written all over it. Now the next song is “The Ghost Syndicate” and I have a bit of an issue here. If you read the publicity, you’d think the salient point is that Derek Sherinian of Sons of Apollo and many others plays guest keyboards on it. He does, and this may impress some, but it always bothers me when I see a “name” being touted and potentially overshadowing the band and therefore its own identity. Moan over. The song itself is a masterpiece of mood and prog. It’s got a luscious djent-rock edge to it, flows like a river, has feeling and has the warmth of somewhere like Southern California, where ironically the aforementioned Mr Sherinian is from. Drama and flow are at the heart of “A President’s Speech”. There’s more djent, plenty of keyboard gymnastics and overall progressive power. The singer’s voice is unique in its style. I like it. It has range but most of all it has personality and character. In my mind there’s a strong similarity with Haken here, to some extent in style but most of all in the unbridled creativity of ideas, which come from left field, off field and every other field and are often keyboard-led. We have rip-roaring prog, playful musicianship and a little bit of funky jazz. It’s a riot of colour and fun. “A President’s Speech” brought a wide smile to my face. The thing about songs like “A President’s Speech” is that it leaves you with a sense of great anticipation of what might be to come.
What did come was a delicate summery piece from the riverside in the form of “Turn On”. “Blue Light Cage” is a devastatingly sensitive piece whose lyrics reflect the restriction of being inside that blue light cage and the quest to break free. The sound of the clarinet adds impact to this calm but powerful piece. “We’ll Become Dust” is harder and darker. It’s another kaleidoscope of big ideas with a keyboard sound wall, more djent and an anthemic and memorable chorus, if you don’t mind singing “tonight will be even darker than yesterday”. Again, the injection of ideas has that quirkiness, range and progressive flow of Haken which leaves you open-mouthed in wonderment. Let’s get this out of the way once and for all – this is for fans of Haken. Jazz funk fused with electronica – well we haven’t had that one yet – opens up the ball of energy that is “Going Home”. Soul Secret do groovy prog metal and here is a fine example. The instrumentals are free-flowing and yet quirky. The chorus is catchy and cuts away to an acapella finish. I don’t know these guys but they must have had great fun coming up with the ideas for this. I find that Soul Secret have such a sense of melody and harmony. Add to this the coquettishness of songs like “Jump Right In” and you’ve got a party. “Jump Right In” is full of prog flourish. The flow of these songs gets away from the self-indulgence that you sometimes get with prog. Moreover, the album is not lyric-heavy. Not having a mountain of words means that the vocalist has more impact because he comes in when he needs to, and indeed does so with a dreamy yet powerful passage before the prog party resumes to close the song. The final song is the 13 minute “Breathe and Recover”. Fluttering electronica and heavy djent combine to set the scene. Full of life and urgency, “Breathe and Recover” is a consummate series of epic prog metal developments. The vocalist expresses his vulnerabilities but in a powerful way. Vocals harmonise and echo as the electronic waves run underneath it. The effect is profound but then this whole production is profound. Sublime passage follows sublime passage. Subtle instrumentals tickle our mind and our senses. Light meets dark and everything in the middle as the air is filled with intelligent, mind-blowing prog and life.
Phew. What can I say? “Blue Light Cage” is utterly stunning. The construction of this album and the collation of the ideas have led to something amazing. The musicianship is outstanding and the layering of the ideas brings about an unstoppable flow. I just didn’t want this to end. The concept behind this is interesting but what came out of this for me was the band’s bubbling and infectious enthusiasm, and their ability to bring it to life. There are dark and light moments and I engaged in that, but such was the musical joy in this production that I genuinely felt that I was having fun from the beginning to the end of this stellar work.
(9.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
Leave a Reply