Blossom Cult - Prequel

(CD 2021, 25:06, MEY Productions, N/A)

The tracks:
  1- Nightfall
  2- What If Tomorrow Never Comes
  3- Last Days Of Summer
  4- Porcelain Sun
  5- State Of Mask
  6- Almost Home




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In 2020 the German band Blossom Cult released their debut album (EP) Closure. The critiques on the album were positive in general. The album was categorized in the progressive metal genre. Closure can be best described as a mixture of progressive rock, progressive metal, art rock, alternative rock with a touch of hardcore and grind.
For those of us who love the heavy progressive stuff, Blossom Cult probably will be an interesting band.

A year later the band presents their second album called Prequel. Once again this album is an EP. When you search Google to try to understand the word prequel it says: a story or movie containing events that precede those of an existing work. My feeling says that this should be taken literal. Probably Prequel is forerunner for a full-grown album. But I might be wrong about that.

The line-up of Blossom Cult is as follows: János R. Krusenbaum (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Max Krüger (guitars, backing vocals), Rik Schindler (drums, backing vocals) and the additional musicians are Elias Bauer (keyboards) and Maurice Hoch (bass).

For those of you who are insiders to Blossom Cult, you will have noticed that bass player Alex Dachwitz has left the band. A podcast, which I saw on YouTube, told me that he couldn't identify himself in the lyrics and the symbols of this new EP. Prequel contains lyrics which reflect on the current Covid-19 situation. Even the album cover refers to the medieval pandemic, the so called plague. The band describe themselves as free spirits. In their biography they state “The new songs are a bold reflection of the new state of the world, which do not shy away from controversial topics and themes yet also don't side with any debate that have split society as it has with ours.”
In advance I must confess that I am not that fond of lyrics about the pandemic and especially not about the political aspects about this pandemic. In my opinion a lot of issues are made political, such as wearing masks or not, talking the vaccine or not, etc. etc.
As far as I understand the lyrics of this album well, they try to be “neutral”, but I perceive some undertones.

Musically the album is really enjoyable. The new album is an extension of the Closure album. The band didn't change their course.
The album opens with the track Nightfall, which is a very dark short intro. It is atmospheric and only contains a piano that goes with the vocals.

With If Tomorrow Never Comes the album really takes off. The track is rather up-tempo and is heavy. I like the layered choir-like harmonies in the vocals, which beside being great also are very harmonic.

Last Day Of Summer opens rather quiet and once more the vocal lines are very melodic, which I really like.
The hooks from the intro keep repeating in the track, which gives it a melodic character in general. The venom of this track is in the end part. There the track is a little bit more aggressive. Personally I find Last Day Of Summer the best track on the album. But I know that this is not very objective.

The album continues with Porcelain Sun. The track opens atmospheric and has a lingering tempo. Strings, violin and flute are intertwined in the musical landscapes of this track. As in the former track, the end section is much more heavy then the rest of the track. I also like this track very much. The atmosphere and the tension is great.

State Of Mask starts a little Megadeth-like. Especially the staccato guitar riffs reminds me of this American metal band. The choruses reminds me of Greenday, they are catchy and melodic.

The album ends as it started, just with vocals, piano and orchestral accompaniment.

Personally I think that Blossom Cult has succeeded in creating a full successor for the Closure album. Because of the fact that I don't have some sort of musical tunnel vision, and I don't listen to just progressive rock, I really like this album. I enjoyed all the rides that I had with this album. And enjoying music, that is what music for me is for.
I am sure that this is an album I will come back to. So this would certainly be an album I would buy. At the moment the album is only available as a stream , but MEY Productions told me that the physical cd of this album will follow somewhere in time.

As I said, I enjoyed this brilliant piece of music and therefore I rate it with 4,5 out of 5! These guys have done a great job.

****+ Aad Bannink (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen)

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