Beardfish
+4626-COMFORTZONE 2015

Tracks
1. The One Inside Part One – Noise In The Background
2. Hold On
3. Comfort Zone
4. Can You See Me Now?
5. King
6. The One Inside Part Two – My Companion Through Life
7. Daughter / Whore
8. If We Must Be Apart (A Love Story Continued)
9. Ode To The Rock'n'Roller
10. The One Inside Part Three - Relief


Band:
Rikard Sjöblom - vocals, keyboards
David Zackrinsson - guitars
Robert Hansen - bass
Magnus Östgren – drums


Discography:
Fran En Plats Du Ej Kan Se (2003)
The Sane Day (2006)
Sleeping In Traffic: Part One (2007)
Sleeping In Traffic: Part Two (2008)
Destined Solitaire (2009)
Mammoth (2011)
The Void (2012)


Guests:


Info:

Released 2015-01-12
Reviewed 2015-02-24

Links:
beardfishband.com
myspace
youtube
last-fm

insideout

I think it is quite obvious from the cover where this band is located, a quartet with more than a decade in their baggage. This is their eighth album and it has a comfortable title along with a telling cover artwork that reveals all we really need to know about which kind of music these guys play and where they are from. Not the most common music from that nation in the north but such things are always refreshing. So what about the music of this, they eighth album by this bearded fish?

Progressive rock is what it is, quite dramatic variations over the songs that lasts for 66 minutes if you decide to play the album from start to finish. The production is very good and the singer fits the music brilliantly. I think that we can deduce that this is a very creative band that does make music that doesn’t quite fit into any simple form, but at the same time it fits very well into the progressive rock format and they don’t really stray too far from the established progressive rock style of the many British bands that has come before them – at the same time all these bands have a fairly unique style and so does these guys. What more can I say? I can say that it is an album that requires that you listen to it and just don’t use it as background music as it is a style that works best for the one who really likes to listen to his or her music. And you need to give the album time to grow on you because there are many details in their music that will be discovered when listening more closely to it.

This is a very good album in many regards, very creative and dramatic but I think that many of the songs don’t quite appeal to me, but that may just be me. The album needs to be celebrated though, for the track that is called Ode to the Rock’n’roller which pokes fun of the fuckers who just wants to hear the same thing over and over again and has no room for the creative stuff in their musical vocabulary. I totally agree with the band on this regard, there is too little respect for the musical creativity these days. As the album is creative and interesting it should be great as well, but to me there is something lacking even though I think that many fans of the genre will find these guys and this album exciting.

The fifteen-minute love story that is called If We Must be apart is a very good track and one of the pair of songs that I think stand out on this album. The other stand out is the previously mentioned Ode to the Rock’n’roller that pokes fun of the ordinary music fan that is living in the past and sees creativity as a bad thing; it is a great song with great lyrics. Overall though I like the album but I am not completely convinced about its greatness but it is well worth listening to, as there are some very fine highlights on it. So, progressive rock fan, if you manage to catch this fish on your hook you should really take some time getting to grips with it, it may be very rewarding.

HHHHHHH

 

Label: InsideOut
Three similar bands:
King Crimson/Genesis/Yes
Rating: HHHHHHH (4/7)
Reviewer: Daniel Källmalm


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