I've never liked this band famous for the 1978 Battlement LP but to my complete shock they came up with a third album in recent years that surpasses the previous material, a rarity indeed, perhaps the first time I've experienced something like this.
Admittedly, it's a little uneven, but there are parts that are really impressive, for example, Per Omen Vitam:
As a classical composition alone I think that piece is just brilliant... should be played in symphony halls all over the world... I love how it changes halfway through and proceeds to become very symphonically dramatic or OST by the end. How can humans write music so brilliant??
There's a mix of real progressive rock (think ELP, etc.), the symphonic style they did earlier, as well as the above sampled chamber music, it's a mixed bag, but for sure 100 percent bona fide progressive... long live prog!
Three wonderful tracks make this otherwise relatively pedestrian compilation of local artists worth hearing. They are all by a band called Fate led by composer Matthias Kaul, consider the classic RIO sound of Track b1, called Justice/Musik zur Arbeit:
It reminds me so much of those other RIOs I've posted before, like Random's Nuthin Tricky or Care of the Cow. Never mind those endless ReR collections. I wish there was more music like this out there!
Sorry for the poor cover art. A review from discogs:
Superb modal jazz, McCoy Tyner-like quartet record. The piano by Mr. Benedetti and soprano sax by Andy Scherrer are strong and spirited throughout. I was relatively unfamiliar with all members except for the drummer, Billy Brooks, who played with Tete Montoliu, Booker Ervin, Larry Young and the Paris Reunion Band. It seems that all (?) members teach at a school in Bern, Switzerland. All six songs are great and have a most uplifting vibe. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
When it comes to classic prog rock, it doesn't get any better than this one-- at least in certain compositions. This is the real deal, so magnificent to hear with these tired ears. You have here the odd arrangements, including chamber instruments like strings and flutes, varied chord changes, deep emotional breadth, thoughtful ideas and highly original and creative melodies that go into the best of progressive music, a little like my old favourite Iviron which I hope everyone knows as a point of reference.
Really you never know with these studio sessions recovered from the deep past because so often they are totally ordinary krautrock or simplistic 'jazz rock' by which they mean normal chorded conventional songs with a few trumpet passages thrown in or sax solos, and that doesn't make it fusion, not by a long shot. As a matter of fact you'll notice that on this CD there are some tracks that definitely appear to be like the aforementioned. But the band progressed enormously into the Genesisian style and territory by the later more mature works as sampled below.
Minimal information here.
On the track called The Great Ant with its amazing introduction in chamber style, the melody is about as odd as anything I've ever heard, never mind the wild fantastical entomological lyrics and, as you might expect in these uncommon situations, the song completely changes halfway through:
The Boat has a little bit of that lovely acoustic and thoughtful, meditative Radio Noisz Ensemble sound to it so typical of German progressive but without the ethnic droning:
