"I am not what you say I am. I will not
be what you tell me to be. You stare at me through a prism of
delusion, of hatred, or propaganda, and I refuse to see myself in
your lies. You try to turn me into a barroom anecdote, a whispered
slur, a vile fairytale to fool the gullible. But I will not be the
mirror for your self-loathing. You use accusations as weapons,
scarring me where no blade can pierce. But I will not plead guilty to
your crimes. I will not perform a spastic puppet dance to the lying
chorus of your psyche."
All too often musicians are reduced
down to a handful of prominent components or, even worse, a series of
buzzwords for the sake of uncomplicated consumption. It is refreshing
then to see an act like England's
Crippled Black Phoenix who not only strive to be hard to define but
actively reject such flimsy labels. They have refuted all attempts at
being categorised as a ‘super group’ or ‘collective’. In
truth they are an entity. The music they make is a force of nature
and the players sometimes seem more like acolytes to its grandeur
than those who have performed it.
Their last album, 2012’s (Mankind)
The Crafty Ape, was audacious even by prog rock’s own lofty
standards: a concept-heavy triple record. The intention behind White
Light Generator was to pare back some of the band’s more
extravagant tendencies. Underneath all of the pomp and fluff they
have become known for there is an elemental force yearning to break
free. White Light Generator is a window into that fundamental
energy and it is glorious to behold.
‘Sweeter Than You’ is a very
disarming introduction to an album like this. It is a stripped back
sing-along that serves as our formal introduction to new vocalist /
guitarist Daniel Anghede. Every one of CBP’s vocalists has brought
their own distinctive flavour to the final product and Anghede is no
exception. However ‘Sweeter Than You’ does a very poor job at
preparing you for the rest of the record, but that seems to be the
point – disarm the listener then bombard them with bombast. It is
well to get these formalities out of the way as the monstrous
two-part ‘NO’ comes next. If anyone was alienated by the
sweetness of the opening track then this is exactly the sort of thing
that will bring them back into the fold.
Things only get darker and more turgid
from there. 'Let’s Have an Apocalypse Now!' is vicious and
uncompromising. The song is built around droning industrial clatter,
the bones of krautrock, and a thoroughly menacing guitar riff. It
just screams discomfort. But any “heavy” band can set out to
horrify and intimidate. For CBP this is just one of their many
talents. When they want to they are capable of acts of great beauty
and awesome power. There are moments in 'Northern Comfort' purpose
built to remind us that nobody does epic quite like prog rockers.
In among these monstrous compositions
are sprinkled some spoken word sections. But this isn’t The
Wall. The music never steps aside to let the story take over. You
can’t expect these voices to tell you a coherent narrative (though,
I suspect, many will try and fail to do just that). Rather these are
here to set the mood, to set the scene, or to touch upon that album’s
underlying themes whatever they might be. But it's all too easy to
try and dissect and album with this sort of power and grandeur into a
series of highlights. This isn't a loose collection of songs: it's an
album, designed to be played from start to finish in one sitting.
Anything less is not doing the material justice.
White Light Generator has been
divided into two colour-coded halves; a black side and a white side
separated by one of those disturbing spoken word sections (see the
quote at the top of the review). These divisions were designed to
convey different moods but the distinction isn’t so clear cut in
practice. On the face of it the black side is heavier and the white
side is gentler but after a few listens those lines are thoroughly
blurred. The guitar heavy songs are more immediately
attention-grabbing (and further towards the beginning) but the
masters of rock through history have taught us that sometimes it’s
the quieter songs that carry the most weight. It comes down to how
you choose to perceive each half; is it the one that’s powerful but
charming, or the one that’s charming but powerful?
To many,
progressive rock is a style entirely relegated to the past tense. It
was a movement of music that gained some traction
nearly half a century ago and lost its popularity soon
thereafter. To others it is a vital creative force that pushes
musicianship and storytelling in music to greater and greater heights
even in this day and age. It is certainly a genre that has its modern
champions who have worked tirelessly to return it to the current
lexicon of music. Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) and Mikael Akerfeldt
(Opeth) are partners in crime and prominent genre leaders who have
been unleashing their proggish manifesto on us through their various
bands and projects for years now. But it is not a mainstream style
like it was is the mid 70s. In the 21st century perhaps
traditional prog is fated to remain only in underground circles
and nipping at the fringes of popular music. If Crippled Black
Phoenix and White Light Generator are any example to go by
this is a position in which the genre can still thrive. It was never
meant to top charts and win mainstream acclaim. The fact that it ever
did was merely a fluke – the last 40 years of lurking in the wings
is just the long comedown from that impossible, unlikely high.
Rating: A-
Recommended tracks: Let's Have an
Apocalypse Now!, Northern Comfort, Caring Breeds the Horror
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