Those who ever wondered how angels sound and how they create music in heaven I would like to advise to listen to the latest release of Echo Us. This is in my opinion the best way to describe the contents of Tomorrow Will Tell The Story. The album is the successor of The Tide Decides (2009, see review). Back then I wrote that this album was a good example of the confluence of prog rock and electronic music; a beautiful merge of different musical styles. I also wrote that they created an atmosphere quite similar to the albums of Enya, Enigma, Vangelis or Mike Oldfield. Echo Us is a musical concept project created by Ethan Matthews. He used to be the keyboardist in the American prog metal band Greyhaven. Tomorrow Will Tell The Story was initially developed alongside The Tide Decides until the release of the latter which was the start of a multi-album conceptual work. A digital version of the album and a video single of the track Mirror In The Window were released in late 2010 and 2011. However, the good news is that a remastered version with a bonus track has been released on CD in March 2012. Music wise the new album doesn't differ that much from the first one. The reason for that is simple: again Ethan Matthews played most of the instruments and apart from that, he also produced, recorded and mixed both albums. Once again he got some help from a couple of other musicians to realize this album. Two of these guest musicians were largely responsible for the kind of music angels create in heaven. The first one is vocalist Henta. She's a singer-songwriter, originally from the UK, who already recorded three solo albums. Her angelic vocals strongly express the female element in the music of Echo Us. It's just a delight to hear her vocals throughout the album. The second one is Raelyn Olson on lever and pedal harp. She already appeared on the previous album which causes the kind of similarity in the music on both discs. However, not only the sound of the harp referred to the above-mentioned names. The way Ethan Matthews writes and performs his music on the keyboards is also strongly related to the music of Enya, Vangelis and Enigma. Although the influences of Mike Oldfield are present again, it's less than on The Tide Decides. Sometimes the music tends in the direction of ambient or even new age music. In addition we hear Japanese and Chinese influences on this album. The main difference between both albums is that this new one is mellower with less rhythmic patterns. Tomorrow Will Tell The Story is considered to be a cornerstone of the Echo Us-material and the second part of a multi-album suite. That explains the musical similarity on both discs. The final album in this large work will be completed to be released later on in 2012. Hopefully it contains the same kind of strong, atmospheric music with elements taken from progressive rock, ambient and new age. A blend of these styles is very relaxing and shows once more that progressive music doesn't have to be up-tempo with aggressive guitar solos. Sometimes less is more... *** Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
