After the release of their EP Differences As Light (see review) in 2010, the British band Also Eden intended to tour in Europe and to work on a full-length album. However, none of these intentions could be realized because their new singer Rich Harding had a serious motor cycle accident. Thank God he survived and the band could record and release Think Of The Children! (see review) in 2011 after all. Unfortunately live performances abroad could not be realized, but the good news is that they gave two concerts in The Netherlands: one in Utrecht and the other one in Zaandam. I attended the Utrecht-gig which brought back memories, because they had already played at the Starsound Studios in 2009 together with Dutch bands Silhouette and Flamborough Head (see review). This time they were accompanied by the British outfit Maschine and the Dutch formation Incidense, two rather young bands.

Maschine

I guess that just a few people are familiar with Maschine (formally known as Concrete Lake), albeit two members of this band also participate in The Tangent, currently one of the greatest British progressive rock bands. Guitarist Luke Machin and bassist Daniel Mashal started Maschine together. The name is a composition of their surnames.

Luke Machin and Daniel Mashal

The musicians have an average age of 22 and are all graduated students of the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. This was easy to see during their energetic set; they worked brilliantly as a unit. They got the energy, the passion, the musicianship and the professionalism that is needed in the music scene. The band blew me away right from the opener The Fallen. Undoubtedly the highlight of their much too short gig was the two-piece Eyes. It contained the most melodic progressive rock parts of the entire set, especially the keyboards played by Georgia Lewis prevented this piece from being just prog metal. It isn't strange that the music tends towards prog metal, because the band has two guitarists in the line-up. Alongside Luke Machin, Elliot Fuller plays the guitar as well. However, I recognized more styles during their set. Especially Machin's guitar playing often had a tendency to fusion or jazz-rock. Sometimes even funk could be enjoyed due to the strong bass playing of Daniel Mashal. Meanwhile they've written enough material to record two albums, so I guess the prog rock community has something to look out for. I hope these albums will be as strong as the music they performed during their first Dutch concert. So keep an eye on this brilliant band.

Incidense

In 2011 Incidense released their debut album Incarcerated (see review); our reviewer was very positive about it. He described their music as progressive metal interlarded with softer and sensitive passages with hints

Incidense

towards modern rock. I'm familiar with the album as well and I have to admit that I had mixed feelings about the content. Maybe their music is a bit too aggressive, too heavy for my personal taste. Take for example the opening tunes Silence Must Break and Ultimate Sin. Both tracks tend too much towards prog metal, although they also attract a progressive rock audience with songs like Remnants Of The Past and Nothing Left. The first one sounded sometimes like a blend of Dream Theater and Rush. The other one was a beautiful acoustic piece on which keyboard player Lucas Kruiswijk played the acoustic guitar and did the lead vocals. I would have liked the keyboards to play a larger role in their music, but anyway, the band succeeded very well in entertaining the few people in the audience because they performed a rather descent live set. A special mention goes to bassist Rich Huybens, who performed for the first time with Incidense.

Also Eden

Rich Harding

The absolute highlight of this mini progressive rock festival was Also Eden. I hadn't seen the band since 2009. I was really looking forward to hear their new line-up performing songs from all four albums, especially from their strong concept album Think Of The Children! I hoped they would play this album in its entirety. After I had spoken to the band members before the show it was obvious that this wasn't going to happen. Bad luck! However, after the strong opener Seeing Red I could enjoy the first two songs of this album. Think Of The Children I and Oversight were both perfectly performed. That also applied to Skimming Stones, the first track of the album It's Kind Of You To Ask (2008) on which Huw Lloyd-Jones did all the lead vocals. I was very curious to discover how Rich Harding would sing this great piece. Well, musically spoken there was no difference at all and Harding's voice fitted very well in this track and also in the two 'old' tracks Outside In and A Widow's Eyes. The latter track was done during the requested encore.
More songs from the latest album could be enjoyed during this set: fine versions of Stealth and 1949 were on the menu. They also played Distortion Field, a number that was released at Christmas 2011 as a download. This piece contained the same musical style as Reality Cheque that ended the regular set. It contained an awesome guitar solo by Simon Rogers causing goose bumps all the way! This final piece was a perfect ending of a wonderful performance that was hosted most of the time in Dutch. Rich Harding spent a lot of time in The Netherlands and he's still a member of the Dutch Marillion tribute band Lords Of The Backstage. Unfortunately they didn't play the song called Oud En Nieuw, a Dutch title which means New Year's Eve. However, they're already rehearsing it, so it will probably be performed next time!

Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)