Unitopia - The Garden


Year of Release: 2008
Label: InsideOut/SPV
Catalog Number: SPV 79912 DCD IOMCD 307
Format: CD
Total Time: 97:57:00

It's quite surprising to see pure Progressive Rock on the SPV family of labels since that popular entity typically advocates material from the harsher realm of metal, or so it seems of late.

Exclusionary riders aside, Unitopia is a great mix of soft and hard with various techniques morphing under their undulating pressure. While the music starts in pedestrian fashion, it dramatically improves over a short period of time. This increase in entertainment value is mostly due to a pace that exponentially quickens. Once they find their stride, they traverse both exhilarating cliffs and placid pastures on an epic journey of dissimilar landscapes; some recognizable and some terrifically unfamiliar.

These compositions feature rock structures well placed within orchestral arrangements. To do so, they borrow from many influential artists and craftily mix them together. The resulting milieu is Frameshift meets Yes meets Jethro Tull meets Hourglass meets Puppet Show. When it's strictly brass and piano, it tends to borrow from Neal Morse's universe as well.

One complaint: At times the soil's a little stiff, because they try too hard to harvest others' seed. For instance, "Here I Am" is blatantly Marillion. Rather than place so much focus elsewhere, it would pay for them to loosen loam by eradicating widespread rooted weeds. Then they would stand a chance of getting their own personal groove on. A reduction in derivation would also cause fewer distractions from d?j? vu.

On the bright side, Ed Unitsky has flamboyantly dyed the cover. Accordingly, he can add this CGI to a growing list of accomplishments. For the record, his registry already includes notorious acts such as Manning, Starcastle, and The Tangent. I love those bands and it seems Unitsky has the same tastes as me, or else he's just good at peddling his skills among my pet band brethren. Even if Unitopia were duped into using his colorful services, they are on the receiving end of a desirable bargain -- since the imagery on the mural looks absolutely grand.

As if to play a round of name that tune, the material is eerily similar to D'Arcana's Premonitions. Ironically, Unitsky doodled on that, too.


Tracklisting:
Disc One: One Day (2:27) / The Garden (22:35) / Angeliqua (9:50) / Here I Am (3:19) / I Wish I Could Fly (6:51) / Inside The Power (4:31)

Disc Two: Journey's Friend (16:28) / Give And Take (5:09) / When I'm Down (5:41) / This Life (4:47) / Love Never Ends (3:48) / So Far Away (2:11) / Don't Give Up Love (7:49) / 321 (5:31)

Musicians:
Mark Trueack - vocals
Sean Timms - guitar, keyboard
Matt Williams - guitar
Monty Ruggiero - drums
Shireen Khemlani - bass
Tim Irrgang - percussion

Discography:
More Than A Dream (2005)
The Garden (2008)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin AU

Added: January 18th 2009
Reviewer: Joshua "Prawg Dawg" Turner
Score:
Artist website: www.unitopiamusic.com
Hits: 3338
Language: english

  

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