Unfolded Like Staircase by Discipline, a 1997 album here in a beautiful limited edition on 180g vinyl.
The band was formed in the United States in 1987, this is their third, beautiful album, symphonic rock of absolute quality, the kind I like.
A sound based on complex compositions, atmospheric and melodic at the same time, a style of progressive rock often dark with great work on guitar, keyboards, and changes between heavier and more complex sections.
This is a great album, with long epic tracks, dark atmosphere and excellent performances for ambitious arrangements, great vocal parts full of emotion that make it a classic of modern progressive rock, a neo-prog that has its roots in symphonic rock.
Magnificent vocal performance by Matthew Parmente, at times dramatic and very emotional for lyrics dealing with relationships and power struggles, and his contribution on keyboards, alto saxophone, and violin is important and decisive for the overall sound.
Four long tracks ranging from 13 to about 22 minutes each, divided into several parts
- Canto IV (Limbo) opens the album with a complex and dark atmosphere, with guitar and saxophone in great evidence and an exceptional rhythm section. The singing is very theatrical. A beautiful and very engaging track.
- Crutches is a track characterized by unsettling melodies, a very powerful song on a blues base, there is a great guitar solo that alone is worth the price of the record.
- Into the Dream is a long atmospheric track, first with splendid piano and vocals and then it grows in progression and becomes very powerful. Great guitar solo here too and splendid Mellotron. Epic.
- Before the Storm is divided into two parts, the first short with a dark atmosphere, the second majestic, epic and closes the record with a melancholic atmosphere but one that instills hope.
A beautiful album that requires attentive listening with a dark and powerful atmosphere, there is the mellotron and the dark emotion of the fathers of seventies progressive rock in wonderful melodies with, beautiful, sax and violin, a truly brilliant work, with very high points in "Canto IV" and in the 22 minutes of "Into The Dream". One of the best albums of the '90s.
Highly recommended.
Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS below the article title or on the "Artists" page
Tracklist
1. Canto IV (Limbo) (13:47)
2. Crutches (13:11) :
- a. The Carrot
- b. The Silent Mirror
- c. Down the Hatch
- d. Crutches
3. Into the Dream (22:03) :
- a. Descent
- b. Chock Full O'Guts
- c. Drawn and Quartered
- d. Clearing
- e. Stealing the Key
- f. Sum Music
- g. Turtles All the Way Down
4. Before the Storm - Pt. 1 (5:20) :
- a. The Ocean
5. Before the Storm - Pt. 2 (10:31) :
- b. The Storm
- c. Eden
Duration 64:52
LineUp
- Matthew Parmenter - vocals, keyboards, violin, alto saxophone, orchestral bells
- Jon Preston Bouda - electric and acoustic guitar
- Matthew Kennedy - bass
- Paul Dzendzel - drums and percussion
