I can honestly state that I have never reviewed an album by a band from Hungary before, so this is a delightful first. I was alerted to Shade Without Color by a review written by my good friend Nick Hudson.

 This is a very good album, extremely heavy in places but showing sufficient variety of moods and textures so as to keep the listener permanently interested. I also think that this is a very political album. Although an instrumental, there are voices and excerpts throughout which appraise you of the intent, and this is no more evident than the excerpt from a speech given by the legendary Frank Herbert, he of Dune fame, regarding “leaders” which is the title of the second track here. The whole point about the Dune sequence, of course, was the desire of the author for humanity to mature away from our childish desire to forever be “guided” by leaders who, as the quote goes, are attracted to such lofty heights by the power leadership offers. Orban in the band’s native land is a prime example, and most American and British subjects could very easily name their own prime candidates in recent times.

 Therefore, I believe that this album is an example of Rock In Opposition, which, from experience, is always the best position for rock to be in, and especially in this day and age when progressive and heavy rock is a rare beacon of light in the intellectual appeal held for listeners.

 Thus we begin with Get Rid Of followed immediately by Leaders. I concur wholeheartedly gentlemen. The opening track is a very good example, by the way, of the eclecticism shown. The opening passage is thundering and rips along at the speed of sound, but two minutes in we get a sudden change of tempo, and this passage is memorable for the first of many times you notice just what a fine bass player János Stefán is. Alongside his rhythm section partner Zoltán Cserös on drums, this is as good a combination I have heard since the wonder days of Messrs Levin and Bruford, they are that good. That subdued passage lasts less than a minute before the thunder re-emerges, but it is an indicator of how intelligent this album is. The closing delicate guitar by Bence Rózsavölgy leads us into the initial quote and thence to Leaders.

 This features the first of many vocal effects, and at times these are quite menacing, and they are always extremely effective. Add to this constant programming of some powerful effects which add to the sense of despair at the state of the world and its leaders. These effects combine naturally with the more traditional instruments such as the delicate piano by János Pusker that begins, before the riffing leads us to the second “this is your life now” (dystopian) quote from Rachel Maddow, an American liberal commentator no doubt passing words on some of the stranger goings on over there under “The Donald”. There is a sense of foreboding to quite a lot of this amplifying the central message.

 There is a 12-minute epic on the album, Chasing Time, and this is nicely broken down into sub-movements. There is a Crimsonesque opening passage with a long guitar wail backed by industrial and scary effects before we have our introduction to the lovely strings used by Pusker which overlay a gentle chord cycle. This cycle continues alongside what can only be described as a set of drums being utilised as a lead instrument, and brilliantly effective it is, too. The following passage returns to some crunching riffs but still led by those sticks and overlaid with some beautiful keys rising above. We have chords and riffs alternating in both strength and speed and led by either delicate piano, keys, or long guitar above the crunch below. This track avoids the pitfall of many other heavy instrumentals in that it never stands still. It continually evolves. At almost eleven minutes in, we get a mournful guitar solo and for the final half a minute the most lovely string passage, cello, and violin in perfect harmony. This really is an extremely memorable track and worth the entrance fee alone.

 The strings’ theme continues into the start of Let Me Be No Nearer, which can only be described as an Eastern European folk song with some pretty radical industrial effects laid on top underpinned again by those intelligent drums and bass. The second part of the track is a complete contrast, with some radical keyboard programming coming to the fore above the riffs. The female voice taking us into the final third alongside the mournful strings is simply beautiful and this section is a definite highlight of 2022.

 Acceptance starts off as a jazz tune with a playful piano leading a complex time signature. There is an excerpt about fear writing a script and this then leads into a doom-laden sequence featuring an interesting quote that “your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world” which I take as our almost universal wish to simply live a quiet life and, therefore, accept all the crap which is thrown at us by leaders on an almost daily basis. My take, anyhow.

 Deliberate Disguises could easily have featured on either of the final couple of Crimson Belew-era albums and is therefore the one of least interest to me because I do not hear anything particularly new. Still very well played, though. The movie reference is from The Neverending Story with the evil protagonist setting out his stall to the young boy.

 Reaper Man is next up and following a misleadingly quiet intro, the riffs pick up but there are some very interesting music and quotes, especially talking about good and bad people, but there are only really bad people, with some on opposite sides. These are taken from Terry Pratchett and fans of his will enjoy the band’s take on his work. Some of the effects are rather oriental in their execution before a rather more menacing mood with an incredible bassline takes over and you see the subject of the song looming over the horizon to take us to our inevitable final journey, with even oblivion having to end one day. The closing section is a wall-shaking event and is a perfect denouement to what preceded it.

 Whimper is perhaps a strange song title for what is one of the heaviest albums I have listened to this year, and the intro most certainly does not suggest that the band are going to be all Dylan Thomas on us and go gentle into that good night.

And so it proves. This is not a song which could possibly have been played at West Wales places of worship, but it is definitely a majestic hymnal track with gothic choral voices amongst the clever riffs and industrial effects, with some gorgeous strings in amongst the din. A really fine and lovely acoustic guitar solo kicks in with three minutes left, and this, in turn, is joined by a symphonic keyboard. The quote is from T S Eliot: The Hollow Men and its themes were the shocking post-war settlement and the sense of despair this engendered, together with religious context, hence the prayer intonation stating the world ends with not a bang, but a whimper. This is a very memorable track, thoroughly enjoyable and intelligent music at its finest.

 Rejtekböl is, according to my Ms Google Translate thingy, “from hiding”. The vocal quotes are in Hungarian, and from a film in that language, so I am unable to provide an English sense of meaning, but musically this is a fine way to close. That mournful cello returns, and we have another folk-tinged piece with fragile and quite lovely female voices overlaying the music.

 So, what we have here is a fine album. Much of it is definitely influenced by late-period, industrial Crimson, but it offers so much more than that. Some gorgeous pieces of music, including some of the finest ethnic instrumental folk you are likely to hear for a long while, and a work which is never less than fascinating to sit through.

 You can listen to the album at https://ghosttoast.hu/music/shade-without-color/ and I would thoroughly recommend that you do so, because it is a very rewarding listen. I will definitely be exploring their back catalogue, for sure, and can say with certainty that my first Hungarian band review will not be my last.