The list of bands that are influenced by early Genesis is almost endless. This band had a great impact on a lot of progressive rock acts all around the world. Bands such as early Marillion, England, IQ and Citizen Caine are only a few names that pop up right from the start. Still nowadays new names are coming to the surface on the progressive rock landscape. One of them is The Book Of Revelations. This is the musical vehicle for the multi-instrumentalist and composer Gerard Freeman. He already awoke the progressive rock audience with the digital EP The Prologue, which was released in 2022. This year he released the debut album The Plumes Of Enceladus. Even though the band is named The Book Of Revelations it is in fact only one person who is in control of everything except for Russ Wilson who took care of the drum parts. Russ is most of all know for his drumming in Genesis tribute bands such as The Book Of Genesis and Visible Touch. Therefore asking him to do the rhythm parts was quite obvious. All tracks are written by Gerard Freeman who did all of the programming and also played on all of the instruments except for the drums as mentioned earlier. If you're a fan of real early 70's progressive rock and Genesis with Peter Gabriel on lead vocals, The Plumes Of Enceladus is an album not to be missed. Of course the name of the band, The Book Of Revelations, is a more than clear a reference to the Book Of Genesis, where the name Genesis comes from. Music wise you could say that throughout the entire album the spirit of the early releases of Genesis can be heard. Vocal and instrumental wise Genesis comes to mind several times on all of the compositions. The musical influences of Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks and Steve Hackett are never far away. The vocals, flute, synthesizer, organ and electric guitar sounds many times made me think of the earlier mentioned musicians. But also song wise it is as if you are listening to Genesis. Take for example a song such as P And/Or A which sounds as if you are listening to Harlequin from Nursery Cryme. But also the epic The Chthonic Deities Of has parts which reminded me of Supper's Ready. The synthesizer parts reminded me a lot of the organ solo done by Mr. Banks. Well I could go on and on making references about certain Genesis compositions but I will not do that. Another band that comes to mind while listening to The Book Of Revelations is without any doubt the earlier mentioned Citizen Caine. They were on their albums also often times a copy of seventies Genesis. The comparison is mostly due to the vocals of Gerard Freeman, sounding at many times like the lead singer of Citizen Caine. Namely George Scott “Cyrus”. The album is not always very serious. Many times humour is rather important in the lyrics and song titles. The truly Gabriel-like humour is visible in titles such as Love Letter From A Newspaper To A Cofee Cup and Survival Of The Wittest. Even if the music on The Plumes Of Enceladus is not always very original, it has to be said that it is musically probably one of the musical highlights of 2023 for me personally. If you are a lover of early 70's progressive rock and Genesis with Peter Gabriel in particular this is a must have. Therefore most of all highly recommended to lovers of retro seventies progressive rock in general. **** Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
