When I start listening to an album made by Japanese musicians, I always have two prejudices; It will probably be played (too) perfectly from a technical point of view and how do they solve the often problematic vocals? Neo Atlantis is a band founded by drummer and composer Hiromitso Kaneku who worked carefully on the line up for this project. Keyboardist Makoto Shirakawa is ultimately the current keyboardist, but his predecessor Megumi Yamauchi can still be heard on the album. Kazunari Okumura is the guitarist and the bass is played by Masanori Hamada. And the vocals are provided by........ , er, no one and with that one of my two prejudices is solved. We are dealing with an entirely instrumental album. Yet the included info outlines a very clear concept story and that is both clever and complicated. How do you manage to portray a story with purely instrumental music, that has very rarely succeeded in my opinion. The story is about a journey of some survivors of the, how original, downfall of the world due to nuclear wars, genetic engineering and environmental destruction. They travel on the new version of the legendary ship Atlantis to places from where they hope to save the world. Well, in terms of originality, these Japanese are not going to win any prizes. Then to the music and here I come back to my other prejudice and I have to ask, and answer, the question whether there is enough soul or experience in it or whether it gets bogged down in powerhouse and perfect instrument control. This is where it gets tricky, because they certainly play fine, but whether it's because of the mix or not, it sometimes rattles a bit. Solos in abundance and there are also many melodies that we have heard before. The guitar work doesn't appeal to me all that much, it's somewhat raw and unpolished and the occasionally heavy chords sound very direct. Where I often encounter rather fusion-oriented guitarists in music from Japanese soil, Okumura is more influenced by classic rock (Empty hearted Battle) and occasionally there is a touch of Andy Latimer. However, he does not quite reach that level. The whole mix is special anyway, super direct and sometimes even downright sharp, but strangely enough that also has its charm. Most tracks are of medium length and each instrument is given the space to shine and take the leading role. As already said, the keys convince me more than the guitar but that's a matter of taste. There are sometimes quirky, contrary passages in which the piano takes the lead, but of course we also hear many, often vintage, floating keys. The nice smooth bass work occasionally comes to the fore and regularly provides powerful, driving rhythms. The age-old question whether originality is a requirement to produce a great album arises because it is not original at all and it is clear that Kaneku has used a lot of stuff reminiscent of the greats of the seventies. Names like Camel, Emerson, Lake & Palmer but also King Crimson come to mind but without vocals and that remains a problem for me. Especially in the somewhat longer Bermuda Triangle we can clearly hear all the influences mentioned. A little more adventurous than Camel perhaps, and towards the end even the ghost of Pink Floyd passes by. Closing track Forgotten Forest starts melancholy with a quiet piano melody before the guitar takes over. The guitar sound is somewhat reminiscent of Santana but without Caribbean rhythms. In just under ten minutes we hear the best that Neo Atlantis has to offer. The travellers end up on an island taken over by nature where man has been defeated and in this forgotten forest the story ends, at least for the time being. The finale is beautiful but is also full of prog clichés. The album lasts just over forty-six minutes in total and that is wisely chosen because it prevents boredom from setting in. It is pleasant listening material without too many outliers and therefore a more than decent album. Still, vocals would have given the story much more impact. ***- Erik Fraanje (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
