How coincidental can it be that an American band comes up with an album around a dystopian story, which is strongly based on the famous work of George Orwell 1984 (published in 1949), at the moment when an orange idiot is busy transforming the once proud, largest democracy in the world into a dictatorship ruled by lies and manipulation? Is that just a coincidence or did the men of Built For The Future actually think about the current situation in their home country? Anyway, what they have in common with the far-sighted writer is the aversion to dictatorial societies and the need to warn of their consequences. Built For The Future consists of Kenny Bissett on vocals, guitar and keyboards, Patric Farrell on guitar, bass, keyboards, programming and background vocals, Pete Fithian on keyboards and Lalo on drums. 2084 EMPIRE has become a double album with a total of about ninety minutes of music. It is always a challenge to keep it interesting all this time and BFTF only partially succeeds in that. The first disc contains 7 tracks and the second only 3, so the average length of the tracks leaves enough room for instrumental passages. However, those who expect solos on guitar or keys will be disappointed because there are hardly any. What does appeal is the atmosphere of the album, you can feel the despair and militancy and although the subject is not very original anymore, they still manage to give their own twist to the struggle between oppression and injustice versus resistance and hope. The previous albums showed a mix of pop and rock with a touch of prog. When three musicians play keyboards, you might expect an album that is full of keyboard solos and music that is predominantly keyboard-oriented. However, that is not the case because the guitar, and especially rhythm guitar, is clearly perceptible in the overall sound. The vocals are fine and the many choirs are very smooth, really American. The pace is fairly constant and there would have been room for a bit more dynamics, it thunders along a bit and it's only with Airstrip One that I really get sucked into the story. Not that the previous tracks are bad, they just lack some expressiveness and are not very challenging musically. The description 'rock with a touch of prog' is appropriate in my opinion and they do play very well. There are a number of beautiful melodies, such as the chorus of Zealot, and that is where the link lies with previous albums because it was often said that Tears for Fears could be a reference. As the album progresses, the compositions get better and better and in The Brotherhood the tempo slows down a bit and Porcupine Tree influences are showing through. With a length of more than twenty-five minutes, Oceania is the highlight of the album and in terms of melody lines, The Alan Parsons Project could serve as reference, but the music is a bit heavier though. The story around the totalitarian state continues to unfold and the moment a staccato passage presents itself you feel that we are heading for a thunderous finale, the highlight of the album. Despite the considerable length, the track does not feel like cut and paste, a really beautiful track. Musically, it could have ended here for me, but the story is not finished yet and two more tracks are needed to bring it to an end. Permanent War and The National Anthem certainly are not bad tracks but the repetition syndrome rears its head despite the beautiful finale. It is very much to be appreciated that a band sticks its neck out and makes a very ambitious album with a heavy theme and for that matter, all praise for Built For The Future. It has become a very nice album with a number of beautiful outliers and a pretty consistent overall quality. Personally, I miss some variety through solos on keys, and especially guitar and as often is the case with long(er) albums, with some more cutting and shaping 2084 EMPIRE would have been even stronger. *** Erik Fraanje (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
