Tribe3 hail from Bridgend, South Wales, so not too far from where I am writing this review. There is a rich heritage of intelligent music in Wales, and this band can certainly count themselves as part of this.
The band has been active in this configuration since June 2023 and launched their debut/self-titled album in October of that year. It had a very favourable review in Prog magazine, and they now have, in the latest (March 2025) edition, a “Prog Limelight” feature, and I played a track on my Progzilla Radio show recently celebrating this.
The new album "Life Amongst Strangers" has been released, and you can find out more by visiting their Bandcamp page at https://tribe3.bandcamp.com/album/life-amongst-strangers-2
The band are Jon Kinsey, vocals/drums/keyboards; Chris Jones on guitar, and Steve “Yip” Hughes playing bass/keyboards/Moog Taurus3 Bass Pedals.
A quick note that the album was mixed & mastered by Tim Hamill at Sonic One Studio in South Wales, so you can be confident that it all sounds magnificent.
Seven tracks, then, to have a decent listen to and review of, so let’s go.
We open with Voyager. There have been two probes launched into the ether of this name, and they are now leaving the gravitational confines of the Sun and its system and marching into wider space carrying with them hallmarks of our civilisation. Probably a good job, then, that they were launched when they were, and not in 2025. Over thirteen and a half minutes of music on an opening track is a fairly significant statement for a band to make, and from the opening notes, there is an urgency to the performance before there is a sublime contemplation to the thoughts of the probe as it makes its way through space, the journey to the stars carrying with it some beautiful and evocative notes from the collective, the piano especially perfectly conveying the emptiness of space, but also its allure, the drums nicely complex in their pattern. The more I listen to this piece of music, the more I am convinced that it is not only a contender for this website’s “epic of the year” award, but also that we are in the company of musicians who have a deep feel for their craft and are able to convey this to the listener, the soundscapes really quite lovely in parts, the effects putting across the emptiness of space so well, in a way, in fact, which reminds me of the probe in the Star Trak IV (Voyage Home) film, easily the finest of the original cast’s franchise of movies, sometimes searching, at others crying out in contact. The sub-ten-minute mark allows Jones some space to demonstrate to us that he has the chops to provide emotive guitar, and, indeed, he leads the charge into the classical progressive wall of sound passage which presages the return of the more contemplative feel as we close. Very impressive start to the album, for sure.
Falls Like Rain follows. The track talks about us bending the knee to our modern masters and overlords, exemplified by the likes of Musk, who, in a more sensible period might have been treated with far more scorn and disdain. I have embedded this track below, and I think you will agree that there are some distinctive and very good commercial sensibilities to this, it all sounds so crystal clear and worthy of wider radio airplay in a sensible commercial landscape. Kinsey really does provide such an emotional vocal on this, and it reminds me strongly of Asia in their (much loved by me) pomp, the sound taking over the aural senses, some thumping drums in the final segment.
Last Encore is a tale of doomed love, a theatrical piece in the finest tradition of classic progressive rock, one that I would love to see played live, the band creating a moving widescreen song with the exact tempo in its more delicate, achingly sad, moments.
Requiem for a Friend is an instrumental song I have been informed is a tribute to the late Jez Rowden, of Progressive Aspect, who championed the band. I enjoyed Jez’s work, and he is missed in our little community. This particularly poignant song is embedded below. A rather lovely musical touch. It segues into the title track which has a thoughtful opening passage, but explodes into life after a minute, swirling keys and guitar riffs announcing themselves to the world, a spectacular bassline, the vocals descriptive of the way we live on a planet numbering billions of human beings, who naturally we know nothing about, but even in our closest communities, who really knows what goes on behind closed doors or relationships, certainly before it is too late. This track is embedded below. It is a symphonic and lyrical joy, with some funk provided along the way, enormously catchy and a huge slab of earworm for the discerning music listener, and, frankly, an essential piece of music for progressive rock lovers.
How do you follow that? Well, they do it with The Front Line. The carnage of war, often brought about by simple miscommunication or misunderstandings between the human tribes. ‘Twas ever thus. The opening guitar is suitably ghostly, haunting in its impact, as are the trio when they enter the fray, and there are some majestic passages on this, because as shocking as war is, it is an essential element of the human condition, and the adrenaline of the participants is a high such as rarely experienced in day-to-day life. Further to that, I must state that Kinsey provides a superior vocal performance, as good as it gets, and he introduces an extremely thoughtful guitar solo by Jones before a passage which does remind one of Forgotten Sons, although even that exalted piece didn’t have such a sexy bassline at its heart. The final two minutes pump up the emotion very nicely.
We close with Evening Tide, another thirteen minutes of proggy goodness, the opening passages layered with superior synths, heralding an imperious guitar solo. The light of the night sky shining bright on the water, the sheer inadequacy of our lives against the infinite we gaze upon, the crashing waves on the shore, the power of nature and existence itself. Once again, Kinsey provides us with such expressive vocals, emotional, dramatic, perfectly accompanied by a widescreen musical canvas filling the senses. It really is utterly beautiful, there is no other word which can describe it, the final movement taking one to the dizzy heights of prog nirvana.
To close this review, I will credit Béla Alabástrom from DPRP, whose thoughts about this album were provided to me by the band as part of the press pack. The words on this review are mine, but Béla’s love for this album certainly piqued my interest and enhanced my enjoyment. Reviewer’s Union, and all that.
Is there a cost-of-living crisis? Well, put it aside, and invest in this exceptional album. One for those who love their progressive rock to be proggy. I adore it, and so will you.
Stwff gwych, hogia. Llongyfarchiadau!