The American band Scarlet Hollow recently released their first full length album What If Never Was, the successor of the EP Sanctuary (2010). Currently Scarlet Hollow exist of Allison VonBuelow (vocals, lyrics, acoustic guitars), Gregg Olson (electric guitars, synths, percussion programming), Jeff Mack (bass, bass pedals) and Diego Meraviglia (drums, percussion). According to their website, Scarlet Hollow's music sounds powerful, light and dark, ethereal, heavy, melodic and with an emphasis on the 'rock' in progressive rock. They respect the listener's intelligence 'by performing and producing high quality music with thought provoking lyrics and sonic sophistication.' Their music is inspired by bands like Porcupine Tree, Tool, Pink Floyd, Rush, Dream Theater, Marillion, Led Zeppelin and many other great former and present-day prog rock and prog metal bands. First track Path immediately defines the musical style of the band and what we can expect for the remainder of the album. Apathy's Child starts with an ethereal vocal atmosphere, but it's also a rather dark track, while Thermal Winds is kind of'hopeful' just like a number of other songs on What If Never Was. The longest piece is Around The Bend which highlights the tonality of the keyboards. My favourite tracks are The Waiting and Nightfall Overture, because of the energetic sound. Behind The Lines is a nice acoustic track demonstrating Allison VonBuelow's talents concerning guitars and vocals. As The Blade Falls holds a catchy melody; the fine rhythm section keeps you chained to this song. Although the band members hate their music to be filed under progressive rock, it's the most suitable genre for the musical style due to the elements that are commonly used in this genre. However, I have to say, they slightly deviate from what we consider to be prog rock. Therefore I like to recommend this album to people who like rock music close to progressive rock. I'm curious to find out in which direction their next album will go. *** Zafer Yüksel (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
