The project 'Window End' was born from the meeting of the Swedes 'Tomas Nyström' and 'Pierre Stam' in 2007, and after a long gestation and after completing the line up in 2015 with the arrival of the drummer 'Tobias Lundgren', the hour had come to record a debut album which sees the light of day in 2020 with 'Perspective Views' and in which they show us a talent for sought after and imaginative progressive rock compositions for nearly 50 minutes of listening, the CD version (for the moment only import from Japan) offering an additional EP of three titles that we should discover with the upcoming release in Europe of this first opus.
The album opens with the 11 minutes of 'The Dream' with multiple influences as well in the progressive of the 70s/80s but also of recent years and some parts remind me of 'Arena' or 'Pendragon' or even 'Mystery', the melodic lines being always accessible and the vocal harmonies admirable, then 'Starless Sky', with its muscular introduction offers us thereafter a new long development which is led by a remarkable bass/drums rhythm section in certain parts and which has a heady chorus, the whole being quite typical of a progressive that we appropriate fairly quickly. Following 'Walk This Way', in the same vein as its predecessor, which gave me immense pleasure from the first listen, with its admirable rhythmic breaks and always accessible melodic lines which touch you immediately and, as for the short instrumental 'Within The Shadow', it allows a quiet acoustic break before the last two long compositions : first of all, 'Revolution' which begins with a beautiful guitar solo and which develops an imaginative progressive in which there is always a balance between strong melodic lines always in phase with the developed theme reminding me of the intensity of 'Innuendo' of 'Queen' and, in other places, other melodic lines unfolding remarkable quiet strength which makes it one of my favorite songs. The last track 'Ghost Of The Past' plunges us back into the sounds of vintage keyboards with a last composition which tackles through admirable soundscapes and which offers us a last strong melody and full with emotions ending in a beautiful way the album with a magnificent instrumental finale.
In summary, this new project from the Swedes of 'Windom End' is yet another excellent surprise for this year 2020 in the field of progressive rock which should make happy among fans of sophisticated and imaginative progressive rock... | |
