Fascinating debut album from Hungarian duo

This website is not precious at all about acknowledging hearing of new and great artists from other sources. Naturally, my very good friend Thomas Szirmay at Prog Rogue is my first port of call, but I also follow The Prog Mind – any recommendation from that site is always worth checking out.

Therefore, when it namechecked Deposed King, with the comment that they had no social media accounts at all (a rarity these days which intrigued me), I had to take myself over to their Bandcamp page and take a listen to debut album, One Man’s Grief – after a few listens on my “wish list”, the album itself had to be purchased, a bargain at a minimum price of €3 – as ever, I urge readers of my reviews to support artists by purchasing their product as opposed to simply streaming. The link is at https://deposedking.bandcamp.com/album/one-mans-grief

The Prog Mind was not entirely correct when he stated a lack of social media presence, because there is a YouTube video of the full album on In The Woods channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY38ZZOrOQc On this, we learn that Deposed King are a progressive rock/electronic duet from Budapest in Hungary, namely Daniel Kriffel on vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, keyboards with drum programming, and Dominique Király who wrote the lyrics, plays electric guitars & synth and provides a spoken word on Half-Light and a growl on Ceasing to Exist.

There are guest appearances by Frigyes Sámuel Rácz who provides the (superb) guitar solo on Fading Shadows, Alexandra Saróka with kalimba on final track, Last Light, and Bálint Gyömrey who provided the lyrics for Fading Shadows. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Kriffel and he is responsible for the really quite beautiful album artwork. In fact, he strikes me as being one rather talented chap.

So, there is the background that I could find. What about the music? Well, it is an unmitigated delight, very highly recommended.

First Light starts us off and immediately you are struck by the richness of the sound and the bright chords heralding the freshness of a new work. Some deep keyboard chords and beating notes presage the transition to Caves, where loud electric guitars take centre stage. When the acoustic guitar plays as lead, there are some interesting vocal effects introduced and a sense of haunting loneliness before the expansive noise and anger returns – the contrast between these moods is fascinating throughout, as are the drum and spatial effects we hear. These fascinating pieces of music are embedded below.

Endless Hours is a similar length track just over six minutes long. It begins mournfully jazzy and the first lyrical vocals of the album are introduced adding to the sense of loneliness we have heard prior to this. There are some fascinating contrasts in mood again. Just over a minute in, we get a delightful pastoral segment before the guitars loop and some harsh sampled vocals come in, sadly counting the endless hours. There are some haunting guitars underneath which you get some repetitive, and very good, synth notes which thence take precedence with a really funky underlying groove. This really is mood music at its best, challenging but extremely rewarding.

Path of Forlorn is up next. It starts ever so brightly, with a middle eastern flavour slightly reminiscent of Rajaz. The voice invites a dance with the lead, a dance to eternity, and there is a huge bass riff leading some interesting noises and beats. This track combines again so much in terms of flavour and influence. Dreamy, funky, disco, proud electronica, pulsating space, and post rock, before settling at the close to smoky bar room jazz. This track is quite unique in my opinion.

Half Light clocks in at just short of nine minutes. Anybody who enjoys the finest psychedelia will sit up and take notice at the start. Best heard with decent headphones or a superior sound system, there are some riveting sounds produced and once again some very clever changes of mood, from spacey to thoughtful, hopeful to mournful and some powerful electronic music. The passage which begins four and a half minutes in, with very deep guitar chords and strings amongst the synths before giving way to a sad piano is simply beautiful and I love the way that the drum currents are softly spoken so as not to disturb that which breathes above it. The short closing passage reintroduces the harsher spoken voice and notes.

Fading Shadows references some classical Greek in the shape of Minos, a son of Zeus and the mythological first king of Crete. He was made a judge of the dead after the end of his mortal life, and the lyrics relate to his judgement passed wandering forever in the dim light, bronze like. Lyrically and musically, this is a very restrained and thoughtful piece of music. The guitar solo by Rácz is superb and compliments this mood perfectly, always threatening, but never quite breaking out in anger,  contemplating an eternity.

Sirens of the Sun is a short piece of electronica revolving around some clever drum and percussion programming before it closes with a lovely extended organ and choral effects.

Ceasing to Exist is the longest piece on the album over nine minutes long. It is very dark, talking as it does of final rest and running out of time. Gothic is perhaps the best descriptor I can attach to it and as you will hear from the track embedded below, it is very heavy in parts, with classic death metal growling thrown in for good measure. The drums and sound effects as the mid-section kicks in are very impressive. There are some gorgeous, but mournful, guitar riffs here and again what strikes you is the ability of the duo to provide us with such interesting contrasts in the texture of the music. The use of soft piano and percussion six minutes in, before wind chords introduce the very heavy, dystopian, passage is brilliantly executed, as is the decidedly sad closing sequence.

The album closer is Last Light, which is atmospheric. The piano work is, again, really evocative and this is a piece of music which lays you to rest after the moods which preceded it.

I, in common I believe with most reading this review, often contemplate my own mortality and what, if anything, will follow. What form, if any, will I take? How will I be judged for my time here? This album brings such thought to the fore, and I really must impress that this is not in any fashion in a sad or bad way. It is an album which makes you think and brings a sense of the eternal, perfectly exampled by the closing notes, seagulls, voice, and the sea as it comes to a close.

Music as philosophy. Intelligent, questing, and demanding to be heard.