In the musical landscape of progressive rock, there are artists who deserve to be much better known and, after the two very good albums of 'Jens Lueck' with his project 'Single Celled Organism' and 'Rick Miller' with 'Altered States', it's the turn of 'Chris Engels' to come back a few weeks after the very good 'Gods' with a new album from 'CEN-ProjekT', 'Tales From Avalon', after the equally good 'BIG' released at the end of 2022. It is therefore 5 releases in one year and we find with this last opus, the atmospheric progressive rock of the previous albums and, this time, 'Chris Engels', accustomed to setting old poems to music, has chosen a historical theme since he takes us to the time medieval in the Arthurian legends associated with the myth of the Isle of Avalon which would be the final resting place of King Arthur after being mortally wounded at the Battle of Camlann.
We therefore embark on a very beautiful journey of an hour enamelled by very beautiful melodies, starting with the meeting of the young prince with the dragon ('Respect to All') which unrolls a first soft and relaxing melody on which it is good to let yourself go and which can make you think of the atmospheres of 'RPWL', then, the mystical 'Avalon' continues in this aerial atmosphere with very beautiful vocal arrangements and a magnificent instrumental passage à la 'BJH' in the second part of the title. Follows 'Monsters In My Head' continues in this direction with a composition which alternates refined verses and a more powerful chorus on a slow tempo and which presents a very beautiful solo of keyboards, then, with 'Magical Land', the bucolic atmosphere takes us straight back to the 70s and it's still 'Barclay James Harvest' that comes to mind with this very beautiful title, and 'The Cave', which follows, continues in this peaceful atmosphere and shows alternations of welcome times. We continue our journey with 'Hope is the Light' which, with a very beautiful text on hope and with very beautiful female vocals, lulls our senses and brings a mystical side, then, 'Fate' continues in this haven of peace in which you have to recharge your batteries with a remarkable instrumental section in the second part of the title reminiscent of 'Genesis'. And to end this very beautiful album, 'Angels' unrolls a slow tempo on a melody highlighting a very beautiful crystalline acoustic accompaniment, then, the 7 minutes of 'King Arthur' conclude with an epic on the legend of King Arthur and his trusty Excalibur sword as a spellbinding new tune pressing Avalon's serene side: "Peace is the way, King Arthur knows it to be true. As he rules with compassion and virtue, all creatures live in harmony and love...". Note that you can view the video above which is an extract of each title and which is accompanied by images which have been concocted by 'Chris Engels' to illustrate each title.
In summary, 'Chris Engels' continues to deliver to us at a rather impressive frequency albums of a very high quality making us escape into diverse and varied themes thanks to compositions borrowed from a beautiful serenity where, as I often borrow from 'Charles Baudelaire', "all is order and beauty, Luxury, calm and voluptuousness."... | |