Amplifier is a trio from Manchester, a band that has sort of emerged with the 00's wave of Modern British Prog, for a while they were almost considered the little brother of Oceansize (another band from Manchester), but since their break up, Amplifier is the last hope of the city now.
Their music is a very interesting mix of Progressive and Space Rock, but there are quite a lot of hints at metal in their music, and it can be very heavy at times. They have been described by critics as sounding like a mix of Soundgarden, Tool, Black Sabbath, Oceansize and Pink Floyd, so if you're into any of these bands (or several), then Amplifier might really be something for you!
The band was formed in '99, and has since released 3 studio albums and a couple of EP's, their self-titled debut came out in 2004, the follow-up entitled "Insider" came out in 2006, and their latest album, the double-album "The Octopus" came out in early 2011. While these albums are all slightly different from each other, the band has a very unique core in their sound, a mix of Progressive, Heavy and Atmospheric, an almost "wall of sound" going on, and their music is amazing considering the fact that they are just a trio. Their latest album; "The Octopus" was their most ambitious project to this date, and being a double album with 2 hours of material, that is both Prog and a majestic idea. With 2 hours of music there's always a risk that some of it wont be up to standard, but like the rest of the material this band has put out, all of it was up to standard!
You might remember the band name from the "top 50 albums"-list I made a while ago, both the self-titled album and The Octopus were featured, with Insider being just below the cut. I've been listening to this band a lot over the last couple of months, and they are so good that I just had to make a thread for them here. The band has also several connections to Oceansize, Sel Balamir (vocals and guitar in Amplifier) both sings and plays on a few Oceansize songs here and there, and is also featured on their Feed to Feed-anniversary box-set. On the contrary, Mike Vennart is here and there on Amplifier's albums helping out, and lastly we have Steve Durose who used to play guitar for Oceansize but has now joined Amplifier. (if it's just for live or permanent is too early to tell)
To share and spread the love, and hopefully get more people into them. I would recommend the debut or The Octopus as good starting albums, but if you're just interested in checking out a couple of songs, I would recommend these:
Airborne (from Amplifier)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJz2ueniLFwStrange Seas of Thought (from Insider)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KesbO2wgeg4The Wave (From The Octopus)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mixPxkJswHASo yeah, spread the love and everything. I'll personally see to it that I get as many people into this band as possible, (something I'm also doing with Oceansize), and hopefully this post wont be forgotten on page 3-4 with 1-2 answers.
I'll update with news whenever there are any, and do my best to keep it updated.
Latest news:*Amplifier will open for Anathema on their Europe tour this spring, so make sure you catch them if you can! I really want to go myself, but not a single concert near Sweden so far, hopefully that will change.
*New album - "
Mystoria" scheduled for a release later this year.