In Humanity is the fourth full-length studio album of one-man band Anyone as founder Riz Story does the entire instrumentation with one guest appearance of Jon Davison (former Anyone member, ex- Glass Hammer and now Yes vocalist) on the track Misanthropist. This double album is in fact the soundtrack to Riz Story's feature film and novel of the same title, so it is a highly conceptual and ambitious album. In Humanity is an awesome solo effort in producing, mastering, mixing, composing, and performing although some of the longer tracks, such as Transfiguration, In Humanity and Curtain Call are really a couple of minutes too long as they tend to become too repetitive and too soundscape-like. Most of the songs on In Humanity are a mix of cross over prog rock, art rock and progressive rock with certain elements of early King Crimson as well. Other band influences I seem to hear are Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, Yes and Gentle Giant.... But most of all I feel that the music is rather distant, weird, and out of this world, meaning that the songs do not really grab me; it is rather background music that you hardly really listen to. Furthermore, I really think that the album is way too long, clocking in over one hour and forty-two minutes, but then again, the sound is more than excellent, and Riz Story does an outstanding job as a musician as well, but still, I cannot listen to the album in its entirety... Give it a try if you like complex prog rock and maybe you discover that In Humanity is a stunning breath of fresh music for you! *** Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
