| CD REVIEW Nucleus Torn |
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Band : Nucleus Torn My introduction to this Swiss band around mastermind Fredy Schnyder (whom started out as a one-man project) was with the release of the 2008 album Knell, and as mentioned in the review of that album (posted 17/02/2008 with summary band history) that was the second part of a trilogy (started with 2006's Nihil), the overall meaning of which would only be revealed with the third part. After listening to the 6-track album, the titles of which are simply Roman numerals from 1 to 6 (and therefore pretty confusing, as Knell's 4 songs were also indicated that way, and so were the 4 tracks of NT's 2004 debut Krëhenkönigin), I'm still not certain what the overall concept is about! At any rate, the album's a return to Schnyder's more classical roots, as àll instruments on it are acoustic! The elements of Progressive Rock are still present, but due to the absence of occasional heavy guitar the focus overall is now far more on the Classical, early music eras (Middle Ages, Renaissance), and Folk! There's also a focus towards the female vocals, with Maria singing in 3 of the songs, and Patrick only in one (the album closer), and even the he has to leave an additional passage to Maria...I suppose the clever ones among you will have understood this means there's two (short) instrumentals on the album as well? Those not familiar with the band yet, and expecting a heavy band from the bandname and the fact that the album is released on Prophecy (a label which after all has a reputation in that area) will probably already have closed this page by now...unless they're as open-minded as the music fan already familiar with the band. At any rate, the music is bea-u-ti-ful, still with the characteristics of the previous albums except for the occasional heavy guitars, and therefore even more introverted than anything the band's done before. You can listen to the second song on the album at myspace.com/nucleustorn (that one being only 3:55 in length, it lends itself perfectly for a full-length posting – the other songs are over 15 minutes long in the case of the album opener and closer, and over 8 in the case of “IV”). On that same page, you'll also find excerpts of songs as displayed on the Travellers compilation album, which compiles all songs of the 4-track 2004 Krähenkönigin EP (originally recorded in 1997-98 as a solo acoustic guitar thing for Fredy's pleasure only, and eventually released through Kunsthall on a 10-inch EP on a 300 copy rotation...in other words, a rather rare thing), the 4-track 2001 Silver EP (recorded in 2000 with singer Patrick Schaad and drummer Christoph Steiner in a first “attempt” to create a Prog Rock album, and self-released on CD), The 2-track Submission EP (which has a nice story: having failed to form a proper band for the Silver EP, Schnyder accepted an invitation to work with Swiss/ Swedish Prog Rock band The New Groove Project, where he was to replace Roine Stolt, playing whatever was asked of him as a side-man...but he was also asked to write two songs for an upcoming album, songs which he recorded during Winter 2002-3 on a cheep recording rig in their instrumental form with Steiner helping out on the drums...and then sent over to the band for finishing. However, the album Brill took a long time coming – released only in 2004, with Schnyder not only contributing guitar and most of the keyboards, but also helping out with the recording, mixing, and producing of the album – Schnyder released the tracks as recorded on a cd-R in 2003). Which brings me to the the exclusive tracks on this album, starting with the track “Leadless”. Composing for The New Groove Project broadened Schnyder's perspectives, and while rehearsing for the Brill album he began composing new music for NT. At that point he's lost most of his taste for Prog Rock, and had turned mostly to the darker side of Metal, as displayed on the Nihil album. “Leadless” did not fit in that whole instrumentally, and was therefore replaced by another song. Lyrics and vocal lines were ready at the time, but Schnyder saw the song as something quite unique in the NT catalog (an assessment to which I certainly agree), and put the song on hold. In March 2008 Schaad and Schnyder eventually recorded the vocals, and Fredy mixed the song (which has a couple of guest appearances on saxophone and “darabuka”) in June 2009. Last, but not least, there's bonus track “Lurking”...written at the same time as the closing track of the Nihil album, but unlike “Leadless” it was nót recorded at that time. Actually, it was meant for a side-project which never got past pre-production. Still, the acoustic guitars had already been recorded in 2006, so that was used as a basis to continue work on it in 2009. Steiner added some sparse drums, and Fredy added spacy electric guitar and some keyboards to keep it in line (the Prog Rock feel, you know) with the rest of the compilation. Eventually, Patrick added his vocals to complete the song! Well, and there you have it: a véry nice compilation gathering all of NT's early and hard-easy-to-get material, with some bonus new tracks to boot! Now thàt is the way I like a good band anthology compilation! All I need to do now, is finally order the Nihil album in order to complete the picture about this truly great Neo-Folk/ Neo-Classical band! Yeah, you might say I like this band, and that's why you'll find both the new album ànd the compilation (the older material of which was re-mastered, by the way) in my year-lists! The underneath rating is of course only for the new studio album, as we don't rate compilations...even when they partially feature new material! Haw, haw...this truly is an interesting time for fans of this band! 98/100 Tony. |