Friend of All Creatures by Pattern-Seeking Animals

Friend of All Creatures, the album by Pattern-Seeking Animals, released in 2025, is a band I've been exploring these days. They were founded in 2018 and have released albums of the highest quality, comparable to the one I'm about to describe.

Pattern-Seeking Animals is a supergroup composed of Ted Leonard, Dave Meros, and Jimmy Keegan, all former members of Spock's Beard, along with John Boegehold (who collaborated with them).

The translations of the band's name, "Pattern-Seeking Animals," and the album title, "Friend of All Creatures," are beautiful. The title comes from a verse in the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture over 2,000 years old, appearing in chapter 5, verse 29, at the end of a song about purifying the mind. "Friend of All Creatures" is not a concept album, but the theme cited in the title is a recurring idea in several songs.

The songs are all exceptional:

- "Future Perfect World," a beautiful melody, a lovely melodic rock tune with a distinctly 1970s keyboard sound and chorus. Nice rhythm, the guitar literally screams with a beautiful solo. The tempo is at times fairytale-like and at times pressing. All the ingredients for a hit are there; it's truly a beautiful piece.

- "Another Holy Grail," the longest track on the album, has an excellent structure, with a preponderance of gorgeous keyboards, those of John Boegehold, ranging from vintage sounds to synthesizers, with a nice exploration of his own. The keyboard riffs and breaks are beautiful, emphasized by Leonard's guitar and Jimmy Keegan's drums, truly powerful and precise. Then the song becomes a ballad-like tune with a "vacation" sound. The instrumental part is very complex, and the drums are powerful, taking it to different levels of tension and power. The song accelerates in the middle, alternating between keyboard solos and sometimes strident guitar. When the vocals return, the song's complexity diminishes, with breaks and counter-beats at the end of the bars remaining. A crescendo begins, a slow progression...which culminates in a brief guitar solo and then synth and percussion sounds. The vocals return, with their romantic and passionate mood, with beautiful choruses on the chorus, and then the rhythm builds again, tense and pressing, accompanied by Ted Leonard's splendid voice.

- "Down the Darkest Road" is a song with the pace of a medieval ballad, a stunning array of keyboards. I haven't even mentioned Dave Meros's splendid bass, with its long, deep sounds. Diane Boothby's backing vocals really make a difference here, and Liza James's violin definitely adds a dreamy, suspended atmosphere. A gorgeous song, with a melody that sticks in your mind and begs you to listen to it over and over again.

- "My Dying Days" starts with a bang, a fast rhythm that has a sound somewhere between medieval and folk rock. Bass and rhythm guitar set the tempo, the bars are generally closed by violin licks, and the backing vocals often intervene to emphasize the more epic moments of the piece. What a beautiful melody!

- The Seventh Sleeper begins with a synth loop that jumps from the right to the left side... on which keyboards are added and gradually the drums, and the song gets into full swing with a soft rhythm, a beautiful rock "song" with wonderful choruses and truly captivating opening moments in which the vocals and choruses respond in alternation... the moment when the drums and isolated keyboards introduce the beautiful guitar solo is very refined. The complexity comes alive at the end with beautiful counter-beats designed by the bass and drums (it's not the album that jumps), and then on the same syncopated rhythm, the violin pizzicato and spinet-style keyboards enter... the song ends in perhaps its most epic moment, the singing becomes almost shouted, always in perfect control without a single flaw, and all the characteristics of the piece already mentioned are enhanced. An exceptional composition, a piece that surprised me with its beauty and execution.

- "Days We'll Remember" begins as a ballad with a beautiful acoustic guitar riff and a rock vocal reminiscent of the '80s, a song that's always spacious and sunny. Once again, the choirs and backing vocals are extraordinary, the guitar continues to scream with its high-pitched, distorted sounds. Here too, the heart of the song, which is also the heart of the band, is the extraordinary work of the keyboards. A beautiful song.

- "Words of Love Evermore," the album's closing track, begins almost ominously and immediately opens with a guitar solo phrasing along with the keyboard... the vocals lower the tension with a light melody, the backing vocals punctuate the chorus. Once again, a melody and composition of a rare quality these days. The final track sums up the album and all the characteristics I mentioned. Another hit, "Bellissimo."

The production is excellent, as is the performance; the musicians seem to play with complexity, making everything seem extremely easy, but attentive listeners will understand that this is not the case.

I must say that the arrangements and sounds are top-notch. The guitar has unique sounds—I'd say an innovative timbre—and the drums are tuned to enhance their precision and power.

The bass is never intrusive, but always incisive and present. The keyboards, as I've already said, make the difference. But that's not all: the voice, or rather, the voices, both the lead and the backing vocals and choruses. Everything is absolutely perfect.

The artwork is also an A+, truly beautiful. Look at it, and what inspires you is on the record.

A facet of pro-rock that I wasn't familiar with and that I find difficult to channel. This is a unique band. The songs are all beautiful, it feels like listening to a rock masterpiece that has already been lived and relived, and that has been sailing at the top of the charts for the last 20 years, but that's not the case; it's all new and original, truly beautiful, credible, and certainly has a great future.

John Boegehold himself gave a magnificent description of their style when, explaining the intention behind the project, he said "to produce progressive and complex music, while maintaining immediacy and melody"; an objective perfectly achieved.

An album that gave me a hard time: you haven't seen, and perhaps never will. I like those compiled by a broad audience of music fans. Mine are too influenced by my own tastes (which are very broad across the musical spectrum) and by my sometimes excessive enthusiasm (I know and admit it). But if I were to ever do one, this album would certainly be in the running for first place on the list of the best albums of 2025.

Highly recommended!

Tracks
1. Future Perfect World (9:38)
2. Another Holy Grail (12:20)
3. Down the Darkest Road (4:34)
4. In My Dying Days (4:42)
5. The Seventh Sleeper (8:11)
6. Days We'll Remember (3:54)
7. Words of Love Evermore (8:41)
Running Time: 52:02

The Lineup
- Ted Leonard - lead vocals, guitar
- John Boegehold - synthesizers, programming, Mellotron, guitars, ronrocco, vocals
- Dave Meros - bass
- Jimmy Keegan - drums, percussion
Featuring:
- Diane Boothby - backing vocals
- Eliza James - violin