Nad Sylvan released with the three "Vampire" albums Courting The Widow (2015, see review), The Bride Said No (2017) and The Regal Bastard (2019, see review) fantastic retro prog records, while Spiritus Mundi (2021, see review) was a rather different album indeed. Moumentata, Sylvan's fifth solo album is again an album in the veins of Spiritus Mundi, or as Sylvan himself states, his most vulnerable and personal record to date. Sylvan's new album contains eight tracks, and they are all a contemporary mix of prog rock, folk, classical and modern rock influences galore, of course featuring Sylvan's more than excellent vocals, while he also manages all the keyboards and most of the guitar parts. Sylvan's "band" on Monumentata features Randy McStine (guitar), Davis Kollar (guitar), Neil Whitford (guitar), Marco Minnemann (drums), Mirko DeMaio (drums), Felix Lerhmann (drums), Jonas Reingold (bass guitar), Nick Beggs (bass guitar) and Tony Levin (bass guitar). After a couple of spins, I sadly must conclude that, although Sylvan's vocal performance is again excellent, the songs on Monumentata are composition-wise a bit mediocre, certainly if you compare them to the songs on Sylvan's Vampire albums! Especially tracks like Flowerland (a "poppy" run of the mill track), I'm Steppin' Out (semi-acoustic, predictable) and the dull ballad-like piano driven title track are not of the high musical quality level that Sylvan normally delivers... , as the title track drags musically on for five minutes without going anywhere really... But Sylvan's fifth solo album starts rather well with the more than excellent song called Secret Lover, featuring those amazing typical, Peter Gabriel-like, Sylvan vocals and musically this song also has a lot to offer. Follow up That's Not Me is musically not that innovative or interesting, although the catchy chorus is indeed memorable. Monte Carlo Priceless is a sixties R&B influenced, ballad-like track with lots of acoustic guitar and emotional high-pitched vocals, but in the end, it is again maybe a slightly tiresome song, which does not really stick. Wildfire is definitely one of the better songs here as this one really sounds like the "old" Sylvan stuff, as it is a melodic track with ballad-like passages, also featuring an exhilarating key solo and a nice guitar solo at the end of the song. Make Somebody Proud really sounds like a Peter Gabriel song, funky, up tempo with an organ and fast, melodic guitar solo as well. This "mediocre" Sylvan album ends with a track called Unkillable and this track actually sets the overall tone for this album, as it is a quite simple, almost poppy track with little diversity and musical excellence. So, my conclusion is that Monumentata is without a doubt Sylvan's least interesting album by far and that is a sad but true conclusion indeed! I think will give Sylvan's "masterpiece" Courting The Widow a couple of more spins..... *** Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
