PROLOUD: Rebuilding ---> Amazing Digi Pack CD ... Progressive Rock/Metal ...Check samples!

Starting out as a Dream Theater cover band in 1986, Proloud after a number of line-up changes wanted more. This is their first album. Like all the albums on Sublime (and before that irIdea), the album has really nice artwork, in this case a oversized digi pack and a bunch of postcards. Opening with the thunderous hurricane of Self Destruction, the album musically kicks off with Fickle, which is indeed a rather Fickle tune. Fast guitar runs, vocals a bit similar to Geddy Lee's, full of breaks, but still with a chorus verse structure overall. Some of the instrumental intermezzo's are full of drive. Halfway, the music dies down to piano and a softly wailing bass. Melancholic. The vocals are on this quiet middle part sound better, more natural. Slowly the music winds its way up again with a rock ballad guitar solo. The Geddy Lee type vocals I like a bit less, too obviously catering for a metal audience. It is certainly not beautiful. The few harmony vocals might also have been left out. With Leave It To Nature, this time opening with meandering keyboards and percussive playing on the drums, some telling vocal parts, not too much up front and a rousing guitar/drum passages making a run for it. The instrumental intermezzo's on this one are thoroughly jazzy, with plenty of drive when the guitar really wants to. Time for bombast in the second part of the track and it comes out very well. On Island Lake they start with clear keyboard runs. Shooting Star has soft keyboards and acoustic guitar. The melody is rather mellow, but also peaceful. The song is mainly built around an appealing vocal melody. Gethsemane harbours plenty of rhythmic complexity and synthetic strings. Again this sounds more like a heavy prog band, than a pure progmetal band. I would be hard put to explain you why, but that is how I feel it. Maybe Rush is in this case a better reference, although the songs are definitely less compact. Some nice driving piano in this instrumental as well. Last Inhabited Planet opens with rhythm guitar and vocals with plenty of drama. The double drums and the biting vocals make for quite an aggressive package. The keyboards dance along in the back, but the music is mainly a metal affair, especially because of the screamy metal style vocals. Halfway we move into an acoustic middle part accompanied with tempo changes. Then the music takes a turn for the majestic. To Be On Fire is the longest track on the album with swirly keyboards and an fast Rush like feel. Rebuilding (Leave It To Mother Nature reprise) is as the subtitle says a reprise of an earlier song. It contains some nice strumming guitar giving the album a positive ending. The vocals are a bit in the back now, but they are at least back to normal again.

Length:54 minutes

Tracks

1. Self Destruction 00:31
2. Fickle 08:11
3. Leave It To Nature 08:41 www.webalice.it/giancarlo_mattei/proloudweb/MP3/Leave%20it%20to%20nature%20(complete%20song%2098KB).mp3
4. Island Lake 07:39
5. Shooting Star 03:46
www.webalice.it/giancarlo_mattei/proloudweb/MP3/Proloud-Rebuilding2002-S...
6. Gethsemane 04:53
7. Last Inhabited Planet 06:58
8. To Be On Fire 09:00
9. Rebuilding (Leave It To Nature Reprise) 04:15
www.webalice.it/giancarlo_mattei/proloudweb/MP3/Rebuilding%20(sample%20version).mp3

Total playing time 54:15