Author Topic: [Music] Beardfish - Destined Solitaire  (Read 2506 times)

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[Music] Beardfish - Destined Solitaire
« on: August 12, 2009, 06:08:10 PM »
Reviewed By: Nicholas R. Andreas
Artist: Beardfish
Album: Destined Solitaire
Genre: Progressive Rock
Year of Release: 2009
On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Destined-Solitaire-Beardfish/dp/B0029MAY5S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1249664527&sr=8-1

    Coming off the heels of what is my favorite Beardfish album, Sleeping in Traffic: Part Two, Beardfish have recently released Destined Solitaire, an album which Rikard Sjoblom said would be “different” when I saw the band perform at NEARfest about a month prior to the album’s release. I would say that although there may be some minor differences from prior albums, the new album is certainly still classic Beardfish through and through.

   An ode to the prior to albums, this album opens with “Awaken the Sleeping”, an instrumental piece which does a fantastic job setting up the album, and in general is far more interesting than the pointless and short instrumental pieces that bookend the last album. After that the song “Destined Solitaire” will surely turn a few heads as the song contains a verse that is growled rather than sung. The funny thing about it is the song is otherwise classic Beardfish, lighthearted, full of life, and in the end the growled verse just seems very out of place and unnecessary. Otherwise however the track does a nice job of changing things up for just over ten minutes, remaining interesting and showing pretty much everything Beardfish are capable of.

The next track, “Until You Comply” showcases a nice variety of subtle keyboard use and follows for much of the song simple yet powerful bass lines. Clocking in at just over fifteen minutes the track is the album’s longest, and perhaps its best.  The rest of the album is pretty much dominated by tracks eight to ten minutes long, but the big exception is track number four, “In Real Life There is No Algebra”. The song offers the kind of free flowing energy and soul that help categorize Beardfish as eclectic prog. Unfortunately it is at this point that the promise of something “different” really starts to fade away, instead of progressing as the band had done between the two Sleeping in Traffic albums, this album seems to be a bit more of a fallback into older stylings. Still, the compositions remain incredibly strong, with every track having at least a few moments of brilliance. For the latter half of the album “Abigail’s Questions” stands out as a fantastic track.

   Overall I’d say that for better or for worse this is a Beardfish album. I really didn’t see any progression within the instruments or compositions, but they boys did write a very solid record, and I really like what they can do by keeping it simple a lot of the time. The sound is crisp and clean and it really helps in hearing the various subtleties of the album, especially with the keyboards. If you’re looking to get into Beardfish I’d suggest their last album, but if you pick this one up I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Composition: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Musicianship: 7/10
Final Presentation: 8/10
Overall: 8.25/10
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