A few days ago, I received an email from the Germans of 'Riven Earth' whose first album I had reviewed 'Project One' in early 2019 and who presented their latest studio album 'The World is Turning'. This progressive rock band was created in 2016 and after 'Riven Earth', they released another opus, 'Space of Time', in 2020. It is therefore at the frequency of an album every two years that we can put a new German baby between our ears and I therefore discover them with this third studio recording whose title brings us back to this obvious observation after two years of health crisis: whatever happens, the world will continue to turn!
Musically, the influences are drawn from the progressive currents whether in its beginnings in the 70s or over the decades that followed and we could cite in bulk, for the oldest, 'Pink Floyd', 'Genesis', 'Alan Parsons Project', 'Barclay James Harvest' and 'Eagles' (for the first title 'Ready for Take Off') but also more recent artists like 'Nad Sylvan', 'Cosmograf' or 'tRKProject'. The album is quite dense since it contains 9 compositions for more than an hour of music, each of them delivering peaceful and melodic progressive with constructions in which we let ourselves go according to beautiful alternations between sung parts and instrumental and which are revealed, little by little, listen after listen. In order not to make a title for a title and considerably lengthen this chronicle, I will comment on the last composition of more than 16 minutes which sums up the whole very well and which takes us on a progressive labyrinth, inventive and refined on a slow tempo which makes one succeed varied and endearing landscapes that we happily travel through, letting ourselves be guided by the always very catchy melodic framework, the numerous guitar solos punctuating this title in a beautiful way. Apart from the slightly more rhythmic compositions 'Running Away' and 'Fight for Your Right', the atmospheres developed are generally developed on slow tempos and we walk through quiet and peaceful atmospheres on which we let ourselves be lulled by the melodious singing by 'Uli Krücken', 'Günter Schlünkes' offering us remarkable guitar solos and 'Wolfgang Beckers' enveloping the whole with luminous keyboards.
In summary, if you are a fan of progressive rock favoring the soft side of the style rather than more energetic atmospheres, you have come to the right place because this latest album from the Germans of 'Riven Earth' delivers us beautiful compositions that it makes good to enjoy quietly the helmet on the ears to relax after a hard day... | |
