Band : Slaves To Fashion
Album title : Artistic Differences
Label : Hands Of Blue Records
Distributor : (cdbaby – Hands Of Blue Records)
Release date : 04/02/2011
Release : CD

As mentioned in my review (posted 10/02/2010) of this Norwegian Poppy ProgRock band's self-titled debut EP under its new bandname (check said review and the one mentioned in it for antecedents on the Haugesund based quartet), that EP was only a prelude to this album. So don't be surprised to find all three songs on the EP also made it onto the band's full-length debut.

Personally, I've always been somewhat surprised that the Norwegians could never find a label for their music, because even as Pedestrians Of Blue (later shortened to P:O:B) they already played the classy material which they play today. Someone whom simply could not stomach that injustice no longer, is German  music journalist (and dear friend to the band) Frank Jaeger, whom in 2010 founded the Hands Of Blue Records label with the intent to give STR's debut's full-length all the possible attention and promotion it deserves! And deserve that attention it does, without a doubt! As mentioned by singer Johannes Stöle in the band's MySpace page's blogs, you'll still hear a lot of the band's influences in their current music, like Queensrÿche, Peter Gabriel, A Perfect Circle and Deep Purple, but the guys have definitely made it an overall conglomerate all their own! A mixing of styles which should find eager listeners among fans of Progressive Rock/ Metal and Hard Rock alike, as well as positively turn on the occasional Pop fan.

I spent the largest part of yesterday's afternoon reading out a complete book (a non-Nero Wolfe novel by Rex Stout) while continuously listening to the album (simply because I didn't want to part from it to easily by already starting this review), and I have to ay each listening session made me love these guys more and more. Whether it was the more energetic passages (that mostly by intensity/ volume of the guitars, because overall the guys use an almost Doom-like pace) or the calmer ones on the album, or those really fine moments where a vintage-sounding organ (could it be the guys got ahold of an actual Hammond B3?) comes across the soundboard...each and every one got incrusted into my mind until nothing else existed but STF music. And in spite of now knowing the album from back to front and vice-versa, I still enjoy putting on the album this morning, while I am at the task of writing this little piece of prose. Well, maybe it isn't that poetic, but I sure hope it conveys all the praise I feel the album deserves! What with the work already done on the single “Mrs. Hero”, band and label have decided to make that the leading single and video for the album, but really there's more songs available on the album for that purpose, like album opener “Love You Back”, the instantly-loved “Made To Meet My Eyes”, the wacky “Superstar (I Want Out)”, the somewhat Doomy “Empty Chairs”, or the catchy “Left Out In The Cold”. With the enigmatic and seemingly simply but nicely built-up “Out Of Here” STF sure could lure in the fans of calmer Poppy Prog sounds. For lovers of an alternative touch, there the album's shortie (only 2:50 in length) and straight-in-your-face (but not without magnificent keyboards underneath) “Libido Ride”. But I could actually mention each and every song on the album for a single possibility, and in the end (and that's a pun, because it's the album closing track) only “Facts On The Ground” falls out of the singles possibility, and that's a pity, because it is definitely the band's Prog Rock opus on the album...only, with a length just over 10 minutes it is hardly single material, right?

Dear readers, my heart bleeds for you, because at (www.) myspace.com/slavestofashion, you will only be able to listen to 4 of the 10 songs on this rather diverse album. You might find samples for the other tracks at cdbaby.com (where you can purchase the album, as well as trough the label), but they're only samples, right? So the best advice I can give you Prog lovers out there, is to get yourself a copy of the album while it is still a fresh thing, untainted by music business' corporate money grabbing! Of course I wish and want most dearly for this Norwegian band to become big and be able to earn their living thanks to their great music, but right now I would like them to make the most of this fantastic debut album! Of, by the way, here's another “Best Albums Of 2011” nomination...or what else had you thought?

98/100

Tony.