Album Review: The End is Begun by Three
Author: Aaron Grossman | 
Bringing old school Progressive Rock and Metal to a new generation.
With a dark, atmospheric ode to the apocalypse, Three tip their hats to 70's rock giants like Rush, Yes, and Genesis, while maintaining a style all their own.
Sometimes you can tell a lot about a band from whom they tour with. For example, Three have toured with Porcupine Tree, Coheed & Cambria, and Scorpions. As one might expect from this resume, they sound like a more progressive and more metal version of Coheed - who themselves are both more Progressive and more Metal than most people give them credit for.
That being said, it does a disservice to the band to imply they're Coheed copycats. True, vocalist Joey Eppard is one of many young progressive vocalists trying to emulate Geddy Lee, but he's so much smoother about it than his contemporaries.
While C&C have been incorporating more and more classic rock influences into their work and "The End is Begun" makes some grabs at modern accessibility, let's make no mistake - Coheed & Cambria are a thoroughly modern band, while Three are old school, 70's progressive rock.
Scions of Prog
As proof, the band draws their influences from the titans of the 70s. "The Word is Born of Flame" provides an intro in the vein of Jethro Tull, before it launches into bombastic Black Sabbath style theatrics. Yes makes itself known throughout the album, as does Rush on tracks like "Battle Cry" and the acoustic ballad "Been to the Future." Meanwhile the first single, "All That Remains" is a soulful slice of mid-era Genesis, peppered with the same noodley Steve Hacket style riffs that once made Iron Maiden's Steve Harris say, "Hey, that's a pretty cool sound."
With a dark, atmospheric ode to the apocalypse, Three tip their hats to 70's rock giants like Rush, Yes, and Genesis, while maintaining a style all their own.
Sometimes you can tell a lot about a band from whom they tour with. For example, Three have toured with Porcupine Tree, Coheed & Cambria, and Scorpions. As one might expect from this resume, they sound like a more progressive and more metal version of Coheed - who themselves are both more Progressive and more Metal than most people give them credit for.
That being said, it does a disservice to the band to imply they're Coheed copycats. True, vocalist Joey Eppard is one of many young progressive vocalists trying to emulate Geddy Lee, but he's so much smoother about it than his contemporaries.
While C&C have been incorporating more and more classic rock influences into their work and "The End is Begun" makes some grabs at modern accessibility, let's make no mistake - Coheed & Cambria are a thoroughly modern band, while Three are old school, 70's progressive rock.
Scions of Prog
As proof, the band draws their influences from the titans of the 70s. "The Word is Born of Flame" provides an intro in the vein of Jethro Tull, before it launches into bombastic Black Sabbath style theatrics. Yes makes itself known throughout the album, as does Rush on tracks like "Battle Cry" and the acoustic ballad "Been to the Future." Meanwhile the first single, "All That Remains" is a soulful slice of mid-era Genesis, peppered with the same noodley Steve Hacket style riffs that once made Iron Maiden's Steve Harris say, "Hey, that's a pretty cool sound."
Soft Machine: Alive in Paris 1970 DVD Author: Tim Peacock |
Rare Televison Footage of the Influential Jazz-Rock Band Unearthed Along with Kevin Ayers and Caravan, Soft Machine were members of the critically-acclaimed but resolutely underground Canterbury scene in the late 1960s. Coalescing around a nucleus of Mike Ratledge (keyboards), Hugh Hopper (bass) and drummer/ occasional vocalist Robert Wyatt, they toured extensively with the Jimi Hendrix Experience and were a staple of happening counter-culture events such as 1967's 24 Hour Technicolour Dream at London's Alexandra Palace. Lacking the whimsical pop sensibility of their local contemporaries, though, Soft Machine were more of an acquired taste. Indeed, theirs was an exotic, free form flavour this new DVD will struggle to introduce to a new generation of would-be followers in the less hippie-friendly 21st Century. Alive in Paris 1970 This isn't to suggest Alive in Paris 1970 (www.voiceprint.co.uk) is lacking in worth. It's beautifully-packaged and features a detailed booklet explaining the band's rise to popularity in Europe during the late 1960s. Transferred from the French TV archives, the picture quality has also scrubbed up well for pre-digital film, while the venue itself (the Theatre de la Musique) is an architectural gem. Dating from 1860, it played host to Offenbach operettas prior to flirting with contemporary music in the 1960s and 70s. Jazz-rock explorations But while the setting is stunning, the music's appeal is a little more selective. Only a confirmed fan could love an 18-minute jazz-rock exploration like Facelift, while the honking horns supplied by part-time members Lyn Dobson and Elton Dean during the comparative brevity (9 minutes!) of Eamonn Andrews are more akin to feeding time at the duck pond than a cutting edge rock show. |