The U Principle (short for The Uncertainty Principle) is a brand new act coming from Germany. This five piece musical unit makes an impressive entrance to the progressive rock scene with their excellent debut album Innocent Silence. This is what you can read on the website of their record label Timezone Records: "Innocent Silence is the debut album by progressive rock band THE U PRINCIPLE, whose musical style is shaped by the diverse musical roots of each band member. Retro prog of the 70s meets British heavy metal of the 80s, European art music from the Renaissance to Impressionism meets minimalist avant-garde, and world music meets jazz". Moreover they write on their website: "Another distinctive feature of THE U PRINCIPLE's music is keyboardist Wolfgang Kohlert's preference for vintage keyboards such as Hammond, Rhodes, Hohner Clavinet, Moog, and ARP synthesizers, which is ideally complemented by Marc Kassel's virtuoso playing on a wide variety of electric and acoustic guitars. Christian Tournay on drums and Markus Milian on bass provide the appropriate rhythmic foundation, sparing no expense in incorporating musical influences from Latin, world music, and jazz. Moog Taurus bass pedals provide the necessary punch at specific points. And above all, Rob McPhee stands with the radiant power of his voice, finding the perfect hook for even the most complex composition". They close it with the message that this album is available on double vinyl and also on CD. So lovers of vinyl records will be pleased as well, because I do know that many of you out there love to have their daily prog from a vinyl record. Of course for those who don't have enough information mentioned in this press bulletin I will go a little bit deeper into the seven compositions separately. This more than one hour long album opens with Blind Reflections. An up tempo tune with many influences taken from Gentle Giant. Nice to hear that this so underrated British act gets nowadays the attention it always deserved. Even more beautiful if a new band such as The U Principle incorporates their complex sound into their own distinctive sound. It is followed by Somewhere Beyond The Rain. Another rather up tempo tune. Here you can enjoy strong guitar parts and excellent solos on the synthesizer and organ. Here the band shows more of their own distinctive sound. However the influences of Gentle Giant come to the surface once again. Even sometimes the Dutch proggers Kayak and USA prog giants Kansas can be heard on this rather long track. Next up Innocent Silence starts with beautiful Mellotron parts before the band moves towards a musical style which most people know from the English act Yes. We hear the typical Steve Howe guitar parts. A song such as Heart Of The Sunrise comes to mind right from the start thanks to the excellent guitar and keyboard parts. The longest track on the album is without any doubt one of the highlights on the album thanks to the excellent solos performed on the guitars and synthesizers. After the rather up tempo pieces of music it is time to slow down music wise. Uranium Skies is a beautiful mellow song which is dominated by beautiful acoustic guitar parts mixed with atmospheric synthesizer parts. Here the vocals leads us through the song and another excellent synth solo can be enjoyed as well! Follow up Passion And Fools starts more up tempo with again a little bit of Gentle Giant and Kansas influences. We do hear once again an excellent keyboard solo before the song becomes more mellow later on. Before the album ends with One More Tomorrow the listener can enjoy Restless Patterns. Also here the music is more up tempo again. Gentle Giant again, but also again Kansas might have inspired the band to write this fine tune. Another cool synthesizer solo is added to the song to give the listener even more musical pleasure. Finally the real ending of the album. One More Tomorrow starts mellow and goes more up tempo later on. Many solos again on this Gentle Giant and Kayak influenced tune. Some words about the cover design might also be appropriate. A wonderful tension is created here. Will it be a hard or soft landing? Will the lady in the photo hurt herself and get back up? Questions that remain unanswered and can only be answered by those who were involved in realizing this beautiful photo. These were the Dutch photographer Angelique Brunas and her female model. So the uncertainty principle was perfectly visualised by this artistic photographer. The U Principle can be very proud of what they have achieved on Innocent Silence. A very mature sounding progressive rock album which has no weak compositions at all. Everything sounds great and therefore a must have album for people who enjoy bands such as Gentle Giant, Yes, Kayak and Kansas. A strong debut many bands dream about but The U Principle made their dream come true with Innocent Silence. Therefore I can only highly recommend this great piece of art. Well done!!! **** Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
