After the announcement of 'Neal Morse' to set up a new project with drummer 'Nick D'Virgilio' who was part of the 'Spock's Beard' and featuring vocalist 'Ross Jennings' of progressive metal band 'Haken', progressive fans must have been impatient to know the result of a such association knowing that the American is attracted by all kinds of style. And, after a first listening, 'Troika' is a very endearing album which is almost entirely acoustic with beautiful vocal harmonies, our three artists being also singers which gave me this impression of going back a few decades with a kind of 'an original mix between 'Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young' and the 'Bee Gees'. Resulting from a collaborative work (the very definition of 'Troika') between the three artists, we are taken on a wonderful journey with, first of all, magnificent acoustic or semi-acoustic compositions and the 'Everything I Am' (see video above), 'Julia' (see video here), 'You Set My Soul On Fire' (see video here), 'One Time Less', 'Another Trip Around The Sun', 'A Change Is Gonna Come' or again 'If I Could' have a relaxing and light side very pleasant in these troubled times. And when they reconnect the electric instruments, they offer us more refined compositions with 'King for a Day' which, even if the choirs still bring us back to 'Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young', brings much more progressive influences, than we also find in the energetic 'Second Hand Sons' which flirts with vintage hard rock and in 'My Guardian' with a more refined construction, the end of the album returning to the acoustic atmospheres of the first half with the very beautiful ballad 'What You Leave Behind' and the cover in long version of 'Julia'.
In summary, this new project is a real bubble of freshness and escape with compositions that are good for the soul and, God knows that we really need them right now. Thank you to these three artists for meeting to offer us such a beautiful album which should reach a wide audience because all the compositions, even those which bring a bit of progressive, are catchy from the first listen... | |
