Review: Umpfel – As the Water Covers the Sea

Style: jazzy prog (mixed vocals)
Review by: Tyler
Country: Norway
Release date: 12 April, 2019

NOTE: This album was originally included in the April 2019 issue of The Progressive Subway

The hardest part of reviewing anything is figuring out how to start the darn thing so I’m just gonna go ahead: This thing is pretty cool, but it took me a little while to realize that it was. On first listen, it seemed like a bit of a mish mash of everything that the cool kids are doing. Mixed vocals, weird time signatures, soaring guitars, and just a little bit of a lot of JAZZ. 

There are a lot of interesting song structure choices, even right from the first thing you hear on the album on Burning Water. The super cheesy old school party rock drum beat that opens the song with an unexpected left turn of the dirty vocals definitely grabbed my attention right from the beginning. And the whole album is filled with these little nuggets of odd song embellishments that kept me hooked in for the surprisingly lengthy run time. Another great moment like this was the entirety of the song What Else. The whole track has a real “just lay back and chill’ vibe about it. There is never a moment that really peaks, and it doesn’t need to, it’s a great breather between the tracks surrounding it. Obviously the Umpfeloids are some incredibly talented folks, as not treating these kinds of choices with finesse would just come off as goofy for goof’s sake.

Speaking of these guys’ talent, holy jeepers can these folks write an interesting tune or eleven. The guitar work on the entire album is sublime, as was the drumming and bass. A lot of care went into filling every gap with interesting melodies and textures. I’m not a huge wankery guitar solo guy, but all of the solos on this album were really tasteful. And the big roster of guest artists all did really well and blended great into the songs in a really cohesive way. The biggest showcase of the gorgeous songwriting being the title track As the Water Covers the Sea. The main melody is infectious, and the guest solo from Jakub Zytecki is might as well be the centerpiece of the whole album. The song is fantastic and everyone involved should be proud of it.

All of this is not to say that album is without its flaws. It’s clear that Umpfel has a really strong affinity for chromatic movement. A REALLY strong affinity. So much so that by the back half of the album I found myself thinking “Yeah, but what else you got?” a number of times. The vocals on the album as a whole seem a little quiet and pushed back. There weren’t any moments of real vocal triumph or intrigue aside from the moment in the very beginning that was mentioned before. There wasn’t anything wrong with the vocals at all, but compared to how lush the instrumentals were, they seemed like an afterthought for a majority of the album, though this could be due to the the actual mix itself.

Aside from a few other smaller, track specific things that I had mixed feelings on, such as the soft synth on Glass Score that didn’t blend super well with the other instruments featured, or only the left side guitar opening Omnia that made me think I was having a stroke, I had a lot of fun listening to this. The songwriting alone was enough to keep me entertained the whole time without me noticing how much time had actually passed. I have other nit picky things I could say, but putting them here would seem like me trying to convince myself that this isn’t as good as it is. At times it was a little toooooo jazzy for me (I usually like more thick in my tunes), but this was some good, clean prog that doesn’t hurt anybody. It might be similar to what all the cool kids are doing, but there is a reason the cool kids are cool. 

Recommended tracks: As the Water Covers the Sea, Tree
Recommended for fans of: Haken, David Maxim Micic, Native Construct
Final verdict: 7.5~8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RYM page

Label: Independent

Umpfel is:
– Andreas S. Sjøen (vocals, drums, keyboards, programming, bass, rhythm guitar)
– Anund Vikiingstad (guitars, shofar, bass)
– Håkon Sakseide (bass)
– Emma Sanson (cello)
– Ingvild Sæther (violin)