'Laughing Stock' is a Norwegian band that is now a few years old and is releasing the last two parts of the 'Zero' story (see here) who is a boy who lives with his mother suffering from madness and who himself falls into this madness because of this social isolation and gambling and video game addictions. We therefore find our hero in adulthood who continues to lock himself up and build his own universe outside the reality of the world. Musically, we are taken in a quiet and relaxing progressive rock embellished by beautiful melodies that are often melancholy but which perfectly illustrate the story and which can make you think in some places of 'Barclay James Harvest'.
On the menu of this album, 10 titles for three quarters of an hour of listening unwinding from slow tempos on which we completely abandon ourselves and if you hang on to the first titles 'Wingless' and 'Lifeboat' which reveal this atmosphere soft and relaxing, you should adhere to the whole of this opus. Follows 'The Call' with 'Nad Sylvan' as a distinguished guest who poses his tranquilizing and comforting voice and which is a song which alternates quiet parts with more powerful sections while keeping a kind of quiet force embellished by some guitar arpeggios. With 'Free', the relaxed atmosphere makes us go back a few decades and it is in this style that we can make the parallel with 'Barclay James Harvest', then, 'All Alone' is one of the most refined with a very soft accompaniment of a piano, some percussion and nonchalant brass sounds, the instrumental part of the second part still bringing us back to 'Barclay James Harvest' in the period of the albums 'Everyone is Everybody Else' and 'Time Honored Ghosts'. Follows the short and melancholy 'Word' which takes us into a more disturbing atmosphere and 'Running Faster' is a semi-acoustic composition in a 'Floydian' atmosphere with magnificent guitar solos in the second part, then, 'Familiar Eyes' highlights the sweet voice of 'Samantha Preis' which makes us climb on a cozy little cloud. Make way for the long development 'Mother' which leaves the previous musical guideline for a progressive saga reminiscent of the beginning of progressive with remarkable alternations of intensity punctuated by admirable vocal sections and which develops a composition in several drawers which is worth by itself. purchasing this album. And it is with the second part of 'Words' that the album ends in an atmospheric and hovering climate which sums up well the atmospheres released throughout this opus.
In summary, the Norwegians of 'Laughing Stock' complete their story of 'Zero' in a very beautiful way and offer us a magnificent album which can be enjoyed quietly with headphones on and, if you are fans of a rock progressive and musically you like quiet atmospheres, you should, without a doubt, be conquered by these last two acts of 'Zero'... | |
