Beyond The Visible Light is the debut album of OVRFWRD, a four-piece American band with a weird name that can hardly be pronounced. However, if I had to I would say 'over forward', since it seems that all vowels have been left out. Anyway, this new band comprises of Mark Ilang (electric and acoustic guitars), Kyle Lund (bass), Rikki Davenport (drums, percussion) and Chris Malmgren (keyboards) and they came about literally by chance. Together they wrote the five songs on this CD, which was mastered by Bruce Templeton. It's not easy to pigeon-hole the music of OVRFWRD. I would say it's a blend, or actually a patchwork of different styles and sounds. It contains energetic, dark and heavy music, but also metal, seventies prog rock, jazz and blues. Above all it sounds very unique. In general you could say that it's instrumental prog rock with fine solos played by all kinds of instruments. I read on Facebook that they are influenced by Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Flaming Lips and Radiohead, but I couldn't easily recognize these influences. However, I could hear influences of early Rush, Joe Satriani, King Crimson, Budgie and Queen. Well, I'm afraid you have to check out this album for yourselves, but if you're into rather heavy and experimental prog rock with a cinematic touch, OVRFWRD won't disappoint you. *** Cor Smeets (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
