EchoVerse, hailing from Memphis (USA) is a progressive rock quartet, mixing Christian spirituality with musical prog, hard rock, and even classical elements, creating an own interesting sound. After a couple of spins, it is obvious that EchoVerse draws inspiration from notorious bands like Dream Theater, Spock's Beard, Rush, Yes, Kansas, The Neal Morse Band and even Marillion. Whispers Between Worlds is EchoVerse's debut album and it contains six tracks of which the epic The War Within, clocking in at over thirty minutes!!, is the key song and highlight of the album. The War Within is presented in nine chapters and this epic piece ebbs and flows from one chapter to the next and it has lots of musical themes and tempo changes and musical diversity; check out the beautiful guitar solos by Rob Perez in part 1 I Walk Away! The War Within even sounds theatrical at certain times, but overall it is an awesome prog rock monster reminding me of Neal Morse indeed. Not Like The Other, the opening song and lead single, sets the tone for this album with an earworm guitar hook/solo and that very "recognisable" classic prog rock sound, making you long for more. After this up tempo track EchoVerse slows things down a bit with songs like Sins Of The Father, Feelings Of Grey and Empty and the closing track Walk Alone starts as a piano ballad before it evolves into a bombastic ballad-like song, featuring a great melodic guitar solo at the three minutes mark. Conclusion: Whispers Between Worlds is a really fine debut and a must for fans of Neal Morse, Spock's Beard and Kansas, as all the songs are really solid and good compositions and musically there is enough to enjoy and cherish, although I had to get "used" to the rather "sweet" vocals of Kyle Graves. Furthermore if you are not into lyrically spiritual prog albums, then you might have "problems" with EchoVerse's debut album, but it is the music that counts, right? Listening tip: Not Like The Other. ***+ Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
