With The?Truth, the German proggers Seven Steps To The Green Door release the last part of the Trilogy that was published with The?Book (2011, see review) and The?Lie (2019, see review) as the previous parts. As an acquaintance with their music, I have always had the feeling that this is special music and I mean that in the sense of challenging and sometimes difficult to comprehend. Moreover, you have to be able to withstand the common saxophone parts of keyboardist/saxophonist Marek Arnold, who is also partly responsible for the compositions together with Ulf Reinhardt. There is a huge story behind this trilogy and that cannot be explained in a few sentences. In short, it comes down to the fact that the main characters Samuel and Evangeline become involved in a surreal story and struggle with family problems in which religious fanaticism plays a major role. Samuel's father is a priest and has an important and complex role in his life. For the complete story, I recommend reading all the information provided. I will concentrate on the music. Apart from the basic formation, there are a lot of singers active and that is such a long list that it is not advisable to mention them all here. It is a kind of prog rock musical in which many vocalists come into action within a song and that can be quite challenging. Especially because grandfather's interpreter is often grunting and you have to like that too. I often have some trouble with it myself. Samuel is played by Lars Köhler and he sings well and we also hear of course, Peter Jones, I hardly write reviews that don't include his name anymore. He plays the role of Samuel's father. This band plays fantastic and there are some really beautiful pieces of music on this album. Still, even after repeated listening, it is difficult for me to link all vocal lines to the right person. Let me take the second song, Africa, which lasts more than fifteen minutes, as an example. Musically it is really great with a super tight rhythm tandem, Ulf Reinhardt on drums and Robert Brenner on bass, heavy and overwhelming keys and sharp solos on guitar by Martin Frankhänel. Super complex passages are interspersed with quiet moments and beautiful melodies with very heavy parts. This remains throughout the whole album and female vocals are continuously alternated with male vocals and that certainly doesn't give you peace of mind because you constantly have the feeling that you have to follow the story and that's not easy. It takes you many listens to be able to let go of this and concentrate on the music that is often really beautiful. Don't get me wrong, all vocalists are really good but it's just a lot to take in. A track that I also want to mention is Alpha & Omega. With nine minutes to come, this is also one of those songs that has everything in it. Quiet keys and saxophone open the ball and the voices of Köhler and Jones contrast nicely. Jazzy bass work and acoustic guitar alternate with Marek's saxophone, making us hear a fairly relaxed song. This actually stays that way and the wonderful guitar solo fits well here and is really beautiful. The next song is The Arrest and it starts with a heavy guitar, swirling keys, chaotic vocals and dissonant guitar work. Three chaotic minutes that then turn into Hallucinations, which again starts quietly with female vocals but gradually produces a bit higher tempo and again contains a beautiful guitar solo and ends threateningly. Hearts On Strings is another somewhat longer track and suggests something very sweet in terms of title, which of course doesn't happen, halfway through this song transforms into a complex and heavy piece of rock with unruly rhythms and Fahnhänel shows that he can shred quite well. It ends in calmer waters with some relaxed saxophone sounds. There are also some shorter tracks on The?Truth and a lot happen in them too but I won't mention them all separately. A Dream That Stayed concludes the album, and thus the trilogy, in a beautiful way with a lot of pathos and bombast, as befits such an ambitious project. Phew, just relax for a second. Seven Steps To The Green Door have created a monstrous work of extraordinary proportions and showed that they are absolutely fantastic musicians and make music that is more than worthy of the description prog rock. I'm not sure whether I should call the whole concept a rock opera or a rock musical. In the end it doesn't matter and when I look for references, I then end up with Ayreon but with more complexity or The Neil Morse Band but with more vocals. Actually, it's just a unique project that oozes class, but as a listener it is not that easy because it spirals off in all directions. If, like me, you have some trouble with musicals in general, this trilogy will be no different because the rapid change of characters just requires a lot of attention. Given the obvious quality of it all I can't help but give a rating in which my personal taste shines through a little less pronounced. Many readers of the reviews on this site will find The?Truth enormously entertaining, so do yourself a favour, go and listen. ****- Erik Fraanje (edited by Dave Smith) Where to buy? |
