I recently reviewed a fine album from Buffalo outfit, Turning Virtue and their He Held The Sun Captive. You can look by pressing the link https://lazland.org/album-reviews-2024/turning-virtue-he-held-the-sun-captive
Following this, I was contacted by keyboardist on that album, Dan Sciolino and a project by his band, Forever In Transit, who on September 13th will release their new album, A Coming To Terms. It is a concept album dealing with navigating the difficult process of finding oneself and the tribulations which life throws at us before we become our true, best, selves. Essentially, just the sort of subject matter this website loves to get its old noddle around!
The band are Dan Sciolino on keyboards, drums, backing vocals, sound design; Jeremy Schroeder on guitar; Chris Lamendola vocals; and Daniel Ross playing bass guitar. There is a guest musician, namely Diego Tejeida - keyboard solo on "Enter the Void”.
The band reference their influences from Haken to Porcupine Tree, via Mastodon. The album sounds fantastic, this courtesy of the mixing by Tejeida and mastering by Andy Vandette, both of whom have worked with a stellar cast of artists.
We have seven pieces to discuss, some released in advance of the due date, so we have music to share with you as well, and first up is Let Go Your Earthly Tether, surely a strong candidate for this website’s “title of the year” award in December, the video for which is embedded below, a story of existential searches for truth and self. Immediately, Sciolino’s keyboard textures fill the room, and the expansion of the band with some crunching riffs and tight playing hits you, a band very comfortable in their creative space, with some extraordinary screams from Lamendola. Extremely technical rock music and simply very good, bathe in that final segment.
What Lies Beneath follows. Again, some delicate and interesting keyboard textures are noticeable at the start before we get some gorgeously understated melodies on guitar and the rhythm section leading into the vocals, here Lamendola providing us with firm evidence of the range he has, because this is at its core telling a story of the need to let go prejudices, the past, avoiding drowning in a sea of self-pity, a piece which picks up energy a couple of minutes out from the end, but undeniably commercial in its impact, a song I think could attract airplay on rock FM & DAB stations. An enjoyable slab of rock music.
Streams of Thought is up next, and this is embedded below for you, seven minutes worth of music which, again, veers into the very technical end of the progressive metal spectrum. The playing here is astounding, especially the drum & percussion from Sciolino in perhaps the highlight of the year on the skins. The song references the labyrinth of knots which tie us to past events and the need to cleanse ourselves to move forward. The mid-section instrumental is just about the finest of the year, an intensity which bides its time so well before the riffs crash into your ear leading up to the final passage which has some great riffs before the keyboard textures at the very end put music to self.
I Cling To Threads opens darkly thoughtful, Porcupine Tree a massive influence on this slab of psychedelic heavy progressive rock, the vocals bearing serious comparison with Wilson in the depiction of freefall, the keyboards setting a soundscape, at once minimalist, at once complex, with a solid underbelly in the bass and drums, and when the guitar solo kicks in, Schroeder shows his chops with class. This is just short of six minutes of quality music.
Enter The Void is the final track I can embed. Shroeder plays bass guitar on this one, a cracker discussing the threads in our lives which bind us, cause us pain, but entering the void frees us, and doing so prompts some frighteningly harsh vocals before calming down to discuss how survival can be a miracle. There is a huge amount going on in this. The vocal and musical contrast depicting the paradox is at once full face on and then melodically entrancing, especially the keyboard solo which is impressive, and that, of course, is the point. A track perhaps which needs to be heard within the context of the album as a whole.
Empty and Become Wind is the penultimate track, and the longest just short of nine minutes, introduced by a pure symphonic landscape created on the synths, lovely in its impact before the main track enters, chugging along at some pace with some fine riffs, the drums crashing beneath, the words providing freedom from mentors, the past, the self becoming like wind, free to move at its own pace, and the pace picks up tremendously two thirds of the way in with some looping guitar riffs and extensive complex drums, the track enveloping you in a wall of heavy symphonic sound. The bass melody which closes with the keys is lovely.
The finale is the title track, reflecting on the storms which have presaged the maturity of self, acceptance of who he is, some very interesting vocals on this. Ross steps into lead guitar solo on this track, and it is an impressive one in a track which takes, I think, the best of Haken, but moulds it into what is a unique act capable of some searing and gorgeous moments, the choral close a fine example.
Coming To Terms is a fine album, and a must listen for those of you who appreciate the heavier end of the progressive spectrum. The Bandcamp page is https://foreverintransit.bandcamp.com/album/a-coming-to-terms