PINNACLE A Blueprint for Chaos (CD on Fox's Den Records)
This CD from 2012 features 75 minutes of driving progressive rock music.
Pinnacle is: Karl Eisenhart (on guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Bill Fox (on bass, guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Greg Jones (on drums), and Matt Francisco (on lead vocals and keyboards).
Tuneage cut from a prime progrock mold (without being derivative), but delivered with a modern sensibility.
The guitar blazes with energetic fervor, rich with snarling riffs drenched in a molten sparkle. The guitar reaches a level of ecstasy which is deftly maintained throughout the album.
The keyboards slide into play with nimble-fingered agility, generating sultry sub-melodies that slide into play with earnest enthusiasm. Liquid chords roll out like waterfalls of hot honey, establishing anticipatory passages in preparation for the obligatory guitar solos that litter these songs.
The percussion is stout and determined, belting out durable rhythms that keep the energy-level high throughout the songs.
The bass rumbles with a guttural cadence, slick and growling with a fuzzy-throated undercurrent. Frequently, the bass notes adopt a popping thump that rivals the main tempos.
The vocals are very traditional and loyal to the progressive genre. The voice crisply articulates lyrics steeped in a realm of life-life considered as a pastoral fantasy. Each subsequent stanza strives to outdo the previous ones, boosting the attentive audience onto a rising plateau of jubilation.
These compositions are tailored to strongly appeal to fans of classic progrock (like Marillion or Happy the Man). There's even a touch of slick arena rock going on here. The melodies progress through numerous phases of ascendance, each stretch mounting the tension and velocity, only to spill the listener into another phase of even higher intensity. Relentless euphoria is explored and readily imparted by this music. There's even room in the songs for stretches wherein the instruments engage in reflective tenderness.
TWYNDYLLYNGS Event Horizon (CD on Electro-Music Media/Fox's Den Records)
This CD from 2011 features 44 minutes of atmospheric electronic music.
Twyndyllyngs is Howard Moscovitz and Bill Fox.
Droney electronics conspire with conventional guitar to produce spacey tuneage.
The electronics are rather minimal, primarily textures with subtle additional effects meandering throughout the songs. These additional sounds range from ascending pitches to complimentary tonalities meshing with the foundational electronics to augment the harmonic flow.
The guitar restrains itself to rather conventional expressions: plucking, mild strumming, a few instances of astral sustains. In this manner, the instrument contributes but never in a fashion that overwhelms the overall calm. Toward the end of the album, though, the guitar engages in some luscious squealing effects that can be considered as a subdued form of space guitar.
Cello and strings (possibly synthetic) play vital parts throughout the music, lending a cerebral orchestral flair to the soundscapes.
Vocodered voice appears at one point and is subjected to extreme treatments, resulting in very unnatural utterances. The strings are in soft form during this passage.
These compositions tend to be rather minimal, harmonics bordering on melodic structures, mainly pursuing auralscapes of a dreamy atmospheric nature.
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