Crystal Palace, hailing from Germany was founded in Berlin in 1990 and the line up of the band in 2022 is as follows: Nils Conrad (guitars), Frank Kohler (keyboards), Jens-Uwe Strutz (bass guitar and vocals), and Tom Ronney (drums). Crystal Palace released their debut album called On The Edge Of The World in 1995, however I really have not heard anything of this German prog rock band before.... Still There, their new album is a concept album in the veins of albums like Brave (1994, Marillion) and Porcupine Tree's The Incident (2009, see review) and Steven Wilson's Hands Cannot Erase (2015, see review) All of the twelve songs are extraordinarily rich in melody and the album really needs repeat listens to really like and enjoy it! I would describe the sound of Crystal Palace as neo prog and this band really reminds me of notorious bands like Galahad, Galleon or Grey Lady Down, which unfortunately do not belong to my favourite prog rock bands. The melodies and the solos are quite good and well played but I miss that certain feeling to really get into the music as the compositions are mostly based on the same principles and the songs tend to get boring after a couple of times! Maybe the playing time is also a bit too long as some of the songs drag on way too long without being really interesting or musically versatile. However, if you are a fan of the aforementioned bands then Crystal Palace is definitely a band you should listen to as I am sure that you will like their new album Still There! *** Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
