Reviews - Somewhere in the dark

Somewhere In The Dark is the culmination of what the band previously released on their two independent EPs, Morphios and Shadows Of The Past, adding 4 additional tracks. This album was released in 2002 - so yes, it's been awaiting review awhile - two years after the EPs. So, listening to the tracks here became a fairly fresh experience - in fact, it wasn't until I looked at the song titles that I realized that I heard many of them before. Interestingly enough, comparing what I said about some of the tracks then to what I hear now, they don't sound like the same tracks at all.

Deep Thought are a prog band in the style of early Marillion, Jadis, IQ, Pendragon, Pallas, et al. So, yes, you could call this Swiss quintet "neo-prog" with a decided UK flavour. They at least have an understanding of how a "neo-prog" band should sound, even while they don't sound completely like any of the abovementioned bands. They do incorporate elements of all them, fashioning something that is new, even while it is old. There are the parpy keyboards and the upbeat arrangements that mark much in the "neo-prog" style. Fortunately, the similarity ends with style and feel. This is a good thing, especially if you like the "neo" style, but don't care to hear clones. In fact, who Deep Though remind me of is the short-lived band Epilogue, also from the UK - it's a comparison that I also mentioned in a previous review, as well.

The highlight element to Deep Thought is the guitar work of Marcel Oehler, and on "Shadows Of The Past," especially, which features his most prominent performance with a tone that is bright and brassy. His sound is influenced by Steve Rothery - when you hear his liquid guitar playing, you can't help but think of the Marillion guitarist. But, that's not his only mode, as his style of playing changes, depending on the needs of the track while retaining, broadly, a very established "neo-prog" style. "Shadows..." also features the bass of Dominick Rudmann very prominently, about midway through.

While not a lowlight, the least impressive element is in the vocal department. Pat Merz' voice is not a bad voice, it just seems a little "wrong" at times on some notes, a little flat. I don't care for the vocals at all on the newer track "Changing The Rules," a song about spousal abuse. The keyboards (Dominick Pfleghaar) are at the forefront alongside guitar and vocals, though throbbing drums (Martin Altenbach) take over for the choruses. Although rhythmically it gives Deep Thought a chugging metal sound, all the edges are smoothed off, which makes this track a little light. There is a nice, floaty keyboard passage about halfway through, however. Vocally "Morphios" is the strongest of the album's 9 tracks, and doesn't sound wildly different from its earlier counterpart.

The first of the new pieces is "Clock," which can be described as a rather generic prog tune, and sets the tone for the rest of the album, featuring all the various elements that will be heard throughout. Though about halfway through, there is a light, jaunty interlude of plucked guitar notes and a single steady drum beat has an almost Celtic, dance feel to it. "Driving," another new track, is the least interesting. It is rather sparse, sounding as if it were drums and vocals only, though a careful listen will reveal a quietly throbbing bass. Even when this song kicks in with the addition of psychedelic sounds from guitar, there still seems to be something missing, there being what feels like a hole in the mix. Oehler's tart solo is quite nice, however. "Mud On The Hill" is the forth new track and this epic begins rather moodily with quietly rumbling drums, and swirling keyboard and guitars. It's one of the nicer tracks on the album, even as it also seems sometimes to be rather bland. You're waiting for the piece to break free, to explode into something, but... instead slowly builds into something quite tense and intense. The tension breaks, but not as you expect, as it quickly changes back to the comparatively lighter and more relaxed core of the arrangement. This track is more than 14 minutes long, and does venture into an extended instrumental passage, falling somewhere in between on the tension scale. Nice guitar soloing from Oehler, however. What it does demonstrate is that Deep Thought are very good instrumentalists with a good grasp about what appeals about "neo." This track also features a guest vocal performance from Jsabelle J Fischer on vocals (who they should let guest more on their next release).

"Ice" would otherwise be a catchy winner if I felt Merz's vocal performance were stronger. By catchy I don't mean poppy, but the choral verses are such that they become memorable... The mellower, artier middle section is a very nice moment, time seeming to hang in the air while we get more chiming guitar over sparse percussion, solidly, but quietly, throbbing bass and subtle keyboard atmospheres. Ah, before it really jumps into overdrive -- well, overdrive for "neo" -- and puts throbbing bass and sometimes sharp parpy keys front and center - you can't help but think of early-Marillion (Script-era mainly).

Deep Thought are fairly decent and do have some interesting ideas, but there isn't enough, I feel, that will allow them to truly stand out on their own, to break free of the pack of generic "neo-prog" bands.

Rating: 3.25/5

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Preamble.

Somewhere In the Dark is the first full-length album by Switzerland's band Deep Thought. There is a review of Deep Thought's debut mini-CD on ProgressoR. However, all three of the songs from that mini-CD are featured on this album as well. I am going to compare the old and new versions of them in this review, so I think there's no special need for you to read the other review.

The Album.

I was right while guessing that the new versions of the songs from the debut mini-CD of the band: Simple Man, Shadows of the Past, and Ice (tracks 4, 5 & 7), are way better than the originals. Stylistically however, they're still about Neo Symphonic Art-Rock where the presence of elements of Prog-Metal is insignificant. Although overall, all of these three songs are excellent, these are the only songs on the album where the influences of Marillion are sometimes obvious.

Whereas all six of the other, completely new songs on Somewhere In the Dark: Clock, Changing the Rules, Waiting For Darkness, Driving, Morphios, and Mud On the Hill (1, 2, 3, 6, 8 & 9), are real masterpieces and by all means. Stylistically, each of them represents a fusion of Symphonic Art-Rock and Prog-Metal.

It's not that easy for me to put the prefix of Neo before the first of the genre constituents that form the style of this album. While the sound of all six of Deep Thought's new songs is quite typical for Neo, the arrangements that they consist of are typical for Classic Progressive. The frequent use of the highly complex stop-to-play movements and odd meters is among the central hallmarks of this album.

Furthermore, there are more of the purely instrumental arrangements than vocally instrumental ones on most of the aforementioned masterpieces, and this is still not everything. The number of different vocal and instrumental themes that are present only on Clock (1) is so large that it would be enough of them for some mediocre wannabe band to 'build' a whole album. One of a dozen (at least) of different instrumental parts on the album's opening track is, by the way, based on the tunes of music of the East.

Most of the other best songs on the album are also notable for the frequent changes of themes, most of which pronouncedly differ from each other. It must be mentioned that the solos of bass guitar are on Somewhere In the Dark as tasteful and virtuosi as those of guitar and keyboards. The excellent separate solos of bass and the interplay between them and those of hand percussion instruments are present in the middle of Simple Man and in the very beginning of Driving.

The vocals on the album aren't that great. On the other hand, Pat Merz has a distinctively original voice, which won't remind you of anyone's, even though most of his vocal parts are of a theatrically dramatic character.

Summary.

Despite the fact that, as I've mentioned above, there are some Marillion influences on the first full-length album by Deep Thought, I think that Somewhere In the Dark should please not only the fans of Neo. Frankly, I am very much impressed with most of the contents of this CD and find it one of the strongest and most interesting albums of Neo Progressive that I've heard for the last three years, at least.

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Galileo Records have established themselves as being able to pick some really good bands. So it was with keen interest that I examined one of their latest releases, a band call Deep Thought and their CD entitled Somewhere in the Dark. Turns out this is a distribution deal only but once again, Patrick Becker and the folks at Galileo have come up with a relatively young band with loads of promise.

Deep Thought are from Switzerland and is made up of Patrick Mertz (vocals), Marcel Oehler (guitars), Dominik Pfleghaar (keyboards), Dominik Rudmann (bass) and Martin Altenbach (drums). Formed originally in mid 1995, the band performed live regularly and recorded a couple of demos before taking what they considered their best material and set to work on their first official release. The band started work on Somewhere in the Dark in late 2000 and almost two years to the day it was completed.

In short the music is easily classified as symphonic rock but with quirky heavy edge. That's more easily understood when you consider their influences, namely Marillion, Genesis and a tiny bit of Arena. The fact that Deep Thought have been playing together for so long goes a long way to masking the obviousness of those influences. They truly have carved out their own style. How it breaks down is that you have songs that are moderately complex (the Genesis influence) while at the same time melodically and rhythmically driven (the Marillion influence) interspersed with some crunchy guitar parts (the Arena influence). It all comes together quite nicely. For an independent release the production is very good. The band's approach is to make sure each member including the vocals is equally mixed. This results in compositions where each member has an opportunity to display their musicianship and be heard. The guitar is certainly always front-and-center, but then so are the keyboards and the two trade-off nicely, while the bass and drums hold the bottom end together.

Four of the nine songs are over 10 minutes in length providing ample room for Deep Thought to explore a variety of moods. The songs go from bouncing up-tempo sections slowing to atmospheric mood pieces. These longer compositions move from one segment to the next building tension and in classic symphonic style unfold with dramatic crescendos or repeated musical motifs. That said even some of their shorter songs manage to drift from style to style. More than that all their compositions seem to blend so well that you hardly notice the CD moving from one track to the next.

Deep Thought's Somewhere is the Dark is a wonderful first effort. It's loaded with catchy melodies and yet still manages to inject enough twists and turns to keep it plenty interesting. If symphonic progressive rock with a slight edge is your cup of tea, this is definitely a band you'll want to keep an eye on.

From Switzerland comes the first official release from the band Deep Thought, named Somewhere in the dark. It features 9 classic symphonic rock songs, from which some were previously released on two demo CD's. Four songs clock over 10 minutes. As said, classic symphonic rock songs, because they all conform to the conventional style and pattern of progressive symphonic rock: strumming and fuzzed guitars, orchestral keyboards and mellotron, bass pedals (although I wonder on which song), tempo and mood changes and of course guitar and keyboard solo parts. This especially applies to the best songs of the album like Clock, Simple man and the culmination Ice, which also has some nice classic keyboard parts, up tempo synthesizer solo's and appealing lyrics. No real surprises, but a pleasant album to listen to, although not al songs have obvious melody lines. Flashes of bands like IQ, especially in the songs previously mentioned and in Waiting for darkness. Some songs have a more dark atmosphere or themes with much tension, for instance Changing the rules, Shadows of the past and closing track Mud on the hill, what reminds me of the German band Scythe. A pity that this song finishes with a rather corny fuzzed guitar solo. Driving has a swinging rhythm and bass line and commences as if it is being played on a car radio; not very original but it fits the title and lyrics of this song and is followed by a pleasant guitar solo. This song (and also Mud on the hill) is a bit in the vein of the work of the Dutch band Triangle.

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The band's first full-length CD features more than 72 minutes of music. Interestingly enough, the band has remained in the same line-up so, this is actually a perfect opportunity to hear them how they have progressed over the years. The opening track, Clock is the first lengthy piece of music on the album and it is a prime example of how far this band has gone in upgrading their overall sound and their approach to composition. The overwhelming sense of foreboding melody and repetitive melodies that haunt the mind are the more obvious reference to, so called, neo-classic progressive rock mostly performed by such renowned artist as ARENA, IQ, and MARILLION to some extent. If one should choose to judge the album by only listening to the opening track, then one must admit that DEEP THOUGHT have done an enormous leap forward, all in the most positive sense. For example, the instrumental performance of band members is light years beyond what can be heard on their demo CD, the production work is surprisingly good and has obviously been done with attention to detail and overall grandness of sound, plus the vocal performance and lyrical aspect of the music is on a much higher level; in short, sheer progression! Clock is really a very good composition that does extend to more than 10 minutes of time but you'll never get the feeling of boredom. On the contrary, it will grab your attention with the beautiful central melody that is carried by excellent keyboards and intertwined by subtle yet powerful guitars. The whole musical experience is even further bettered by nice vocals (good English, by the way) and last but not least, the rhythm section does an outstanding job, especially the drummer. The next track, Changing the Rules is a more lively musical composition and a bit shorter, but it does include more tempo changes, and some very interesting passages. The band tries really hard and succeeds in creating a sound of their own even though there are some similarities with other band's sounds; fortunately only on the surface level. Waiting for Darkness is the shortest piece of music on the entire album but it convinces with its power (great rhythm section) and beauty (melodic guitars).

Then we come to Simple Man, another lengthy piece of music that immediately bombards the listener with tricky drum patterns, innovative guitars and soft, ambiental keyboards. The music suddenly slows down almost to a halt, after the initial progressive attack, but only for a while as the band once again kicks in high gear. During this track, DEEP THOUGHT show a surprising amount of musical know-how, both performance and composition wise. The composition is a great piece of excellent progressive rock that does not falter for a second. Its intricate pattern boggles the mind yet it is friendly to the ear, which is a feat that can only be accomplished by the best! Probably the best track on the album. By the way, somewhere towards the end you can almost hear the faint echo of ECHOLYN. By now, it is clear that we are dealing here with a A-class progressive band that has it all - knowledge, talent and passion for music. The keyboard intro to Shadows of the Past does sound ominous and very serious but when the bands starts to play, it is only melody after melody, nice vocals and great rhythm section. Strumming, almost percussive drums make the composition sound very different and the rhythm very unique. The sharp guitar lines only add an extra flavour of power and sharpness. Driving starts very with a playful drum-bass-vocal interplay that soon turns into a fully 'driven' composition that takes us onto an interesting journey where we can hear great keyboard harmonies, superb muted guitars and rollicking rhythm section. Very dual in nature as it switches between a more cheerful mood and that of pure sadness. And here we are, another lengthy piece of music. Ice is also one of the more complex musical compositions that keeps a firm hold of the charted course and offers a variety of interesting elements, great instrumental performance, heart-felt vocalisation and the over-all sense of total dedication to progressive music. At this point, I'd like to focus more on the guitars as they play an important part in the music of DEEP THOUGHT. Marcel Oehler is a very talented guitar player with a fine sense of melody, harmony and chord progression (by the way, great solo in Ice). What is really astonishing is his ability to blend into the background and not force himself up front, upon the musical frame. He does maintain a relatively high profile and is present throughout most of the music on this album, yet he manages to remain on the same level with other musicians. This is a true virtue any musician should be proud of. Bravo, Marcel! Morphios is the second to last track on the album and is a very up-tempo composition filled with great guitar melodies, persuasive rhythm section and very interesting keyboards that step into the limelight making the music sound like some excellent composition from the 70s. A nod to the past, one might say. The album closes with the longest track, Mud on the Hill. It is a breath-taking trip through the universe created by DEEP THOUGHT. It slowly evolves from a percussive beginning into a true masterpiece of modern, progressive rock music. A myriad of abrupt tempo changes and surprising mood swings mark the soundscape that is filled with great melodies, unique vocals and superb instrumental performance.

In the end, all I can say is that DEEP THOUGHT have progressed to that level where they can easily compete with the best European and American progressive rock bands. No doubt about it!

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