In the world of progressive, whatever the style, there are groups which have made a worldwide reputation and those which do not have this media visibility but which fully deserve to be much better known. I place the Australians of 'Southern Empire' in this second category because, after the magnificent 'Southern Empire' in 2016 and 'Civilization' in 2018, it's the turn of 'Another World' to see the light of day. In my two previous columns, I emphasized their long developments and the variety of styles offered, this certainly explaining an accessibility that is not necessarily immediate and which often limits this type of artist to informed audiophiles who have maintained a significant openness to musical spirit despite all the media hype all day long for “ready to listen and consume on site”. With 'Southern Empire', we are no longer this immediacy because we have to take our time to gradually appropriate each nook and cranny, which requires numerous listenings and re-listenings.
I asked myself the question of doing title by title but, given the richness and density of this album (3 long compositions of more than 10, 12 and 19 minutes all the same) and several very interesting chronicles on the web (that of 'Progradar', that of 'TPA' or ignore that of 'Métal Integral'), I prefer to focus this review on two points which seem to me to be a good summary of this album and more generally of the productions of 'Southern Empire'. First of all, I spoke at the beginning of this column about the essential progressive formations but, ultimately, this is what we find on 'Another World' because, throughout our musical journey and depending on the progressive journey of each, we recognize here and there, 'Yes' (the vocal harmonies on 'Reaching Out'), 'Kansas' (the soft part at 3.45 of 'Face The Dawn'), the jazzy perigrinations of 'The Flower Kings' (still in 'Face The Dawn'), 'Foreigner' (in the magnificent 'Hold On To Me'), 'Genesis' (in the calm parts of 'Moving Through Tomorrow') or even a succession of other artists in the musical fresco 'White Shadow' with 'Emerson Lake & Palmer', 'Dream Theater', 'Kansas', 'Yes' and 'Alan Parsons Project'. But it would be very simplistic to limit 'Southern Empire' to a series of comparisons of this type because the whole is of course integrated into a very homogeneous whole "made in 'Southern Empire'" which makes it a unique work, comparisons being there only to show the range of styles of the Australians. The second point that I would like to emphasize is that in view of this density and this richness which could put off some, the whole remains relatively accessible thanks to melodic lines which are always catchy and if you want to convince yourself of this without dive into one of the great tracks, listen to the magnificent 'Hold On To Me' with its chorus which immediately sticks in your head. To discover the album in video, two tracks can be viewed on YouTube with 'Reaching Out' and 'Hold On To Me'.
In summary, after 5 long years of absence, the Australians of 'Southern Empire' reward us with an excellent album which contains all the ingredients to make all lovers of progressive rock happy and which for my part will join the already long list of albums of the ideal progressive discotheque through the ages... | |
