We no longer stop 'Chris Engels' in his successive album releases because after 'The Lost One' in March 2022 and 'C4' in July 2022, I missed his solo album 'Wonderland' which he released as 'Chris Angels' (but you can see a review on the site of 'Progcritique') and, it is thanks to an email from Chris that I find myself chronicling this third album of 2022 which is simply called 'BIG'. Each composition, as for the last opus, is based on a poem and 'Chris Engels' always provides all the instruments and the vocals, 'Worlfgang Kropf' coming to support him on bass.
We find this atmospheric progressive that we already knew on the previous opuses with certainly even calmer compositions, which is shown at the start by 'The Idea' which, after an aerial 'Floydian' introduction, unrolls a mid -tempo on a melody supported by a powerful and heavy sound which can recall the Germans of 'RPWL' and which has a beautiful instrumental section in the second part of the title with successively a solo of keyboards and guitar. Even quieter, 'Pre-Existence' continues in a nonchalant atmosphere on which we abandon ourselves completely, the song filled with serenity of 'Chris Engels' adding again to this feeling of plenitude. The following titles continue in the same style with first, the slow tempo of 'Rain Music', then with that of Enesis' which includes a beautiful instrumental break in the second part of the title and with my favorite of the album, 'Making a Man', which embarks us, accompanied by a piano, in a melodic jewel filled with a beautiful emotion, the high-pitched vocals being quite divine. The rest of the album scrolls 'Vision of Him' which is in the atmospheric continuity of the beginning but which integrates an instrumental section to the 'One Of These Days' of the 'Floyds' in the second part bringing a nice variety to this title, then, 'Make Believe' takes us into peaceful progressive with a multi-drawer construction highlighting multiple alternations of intensities and inventive instrumental sections, the album ending with 'Master' which also shows a quiet side in the first half and which picks up the pace in the second as if 'Chris Engels' wanted to bring us back little by little to the harsh reality of our constantly changing world to better remember those restful moments he gave us live.
In summary, 'Chris Engels' still offers us a very beautiful album of atmospheric rock which takes us on a beautiful journey slowly scrolling through restful and relaxing landscapes and which is conducive to listening in a quiet place to recover an exhausting day... | |
