I had told you about the live 'Forging Nations LIVE!' released at the end of 2020 and the Americans of 'The Cyberiam' have released a new album, 'Connected', at the beginning of August 2021. They are part of the current progressive movement with multiple influences by merging different styles and this opus confirms this direction taken with a beautiful variety of soundscapes in an album rich both in quality and quantity since it totals 71 minutes on the counter for 9 tracks.
The first track 'Interrogation Room B' is a long development that begins gently with a section in which the acoustic guitar accompanies the soft vocals of 'Keith Semple', the electric instruments and drums then join for a first half of track sung quite quiet then, at mid-stroke, after a short break, a rougher instrumental section takes over highlighting a remarkable rhythm section offering beautiful variations in tempo allowing the different instruments to express themselves fully. Follows 'The Moral Lanscape' which is energetic and rhythmic with beautiful disgressions of electric and acoustic guitars bringing a real progressive creativity, then, 'Wakeup Call' is a magnificent semi-acoustic song with a beautiful catchy melody more direct which shows all the variety of this formation. With 'Sunset on Mars', it's a long track of almost 9 minutes, mostly sung, in a calm atmosphere and with a memorable melody, the second part offering us a more progressive and more energetic incursion with a remarkable guitar solo and 'In SaN1tY' brings us back to imaginative progressive with multiple alternations of intensity and rhythm on a new catchy melody Change of scene with the title track which is a magnificent ballad in which we abandon ourselves completely to the delicate singing of 'Brian Kovacs' and which offers a light crescendo until the very beautiful final guitar solo. Then, with 'Wilde Things', the title track is cut in two with a first melodic and catchy sung part and a second instrumental part much more progressive. The 10 minutes of 'Miles Away' confirm the writing scheme used by 'The Cyberiam' with more conventional sung parts and melodies that we tame quickly enough, that alternate with instrumental parts much more progressive including inventive and more researched digressions, the album ends with 'Bigger Questions', more linear in construction, with a repetitive melodic theme that, for my part, did not necessarily seem essential given the length of the album and the quality of previous compositions.
In summary, the Americans of 'The Cyberiam' release an album that alternates catchy melodies with more sought-after progressive parts which destines 'Connected' to a rather large progressive audience liking formations mixing rock and metal like the various projects of 'Neal Morse', 'Transatlantic' or 'Flying Colors' or those of 'John Mitchell' like 'Lonely Robot' or 'Arena'... | |
