Review: 6:33 – Feary Tales for Strange Lullabies: The Dome

Style: theatrical / avant-garde (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Devin Townsend, Mr. Bungle, Native Construct, Diablo Swing Orchestra
Review by: Josh
Country: France
Release date: 1 October, 2021

The need for everything to be a masterpiece is perhaps my least favorite trend within current musical discourse. The fact that rating scales have swung towards a 7 average rather than 5 is frankly unsettling to me, and I see far more bands and artists labeled as the GOAT nowadays than I reasonably ever should. Feary Tales is by no means the GOAT album of prog, as almost no album can be said to be, but god dammit is it ever fun.

6:33 demonstrate fantastic versatility across this release. It’s a testament to their skill that they managed to have the Diablo Swing Orchestra-esque jazz-metal romp of a track “Holy Golden Boner” slide perfectly into “Prime Focus”, a track that isn’t even metal for the first two minutes, instead kicking off with a completely symphonic section. Genres are mashed up haphazardly across this release, yet somehow no bit of experimentation ever goes awry. There’s a synth-pop track on here and it somehow makes sense. Everything makes sense, really; in spite of the stylistic diversity of this release, it has an impeccable consistency to it, a cohesive mood that it never for a second fails to maintain. Genre, then, is no longer an obstacle to coherence for 6:33, but rather a means of creating it.

That stylistic versatility enables the band’s whimsicality to the point where I can’t imagine someone pulling up this release for the first time and not having a blast. Sure, it’s got a pretty heavy element of 80s nostalgia, so it’s easy to go “oh, it’s so cheesy,” but to be honest, who gives a damn? This is a prog album that you can dance to. There is a track on this with the chorus “Haters walking down the streets, I’m walking with my holy golden boner, holy golden boner!” and it fucking BANGS. And on top of that, everything is backed by frankly fantastic performances. Both singers are consistently good to great (excepting the hook on “Hot Damn Chicas”), with the lead vocalist stealing the show on multiple occasions. He’s not as technically proficient as other singers in prog, but he’s got versatility in spades, sliding perfectly into any style the rest of the band attempts, and he’s got charisma in spades. Overall, dude’s a perfect fit. And in terms of the instrumentalists, I’ve got almost no complaints. Every performer comes together incredibly no matter what sound they’re attempting, and never once are they anything close to bad. I don’t think there are too many standout instrumental moments across this record, but the floor overall is so high that I really don’t mind it.

I’ve got nothing else to nitpick about this musically. It’s really just a fun time, and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes their prog wacky.

Post-review note: The music is consistently great, but holy shit is Release the He-Shes a fucking terrible song title. I haven’t paid much attention to the lyrics, so I can’t judge if it’s tongue-in-cheek or not, but god damn, why did they have to call it that?

Recommended tracks: Holy Golden Boner, Rabbit in the Hat, Act Like an Animal
You may also like: Empire Bathtub, Toehider, Chronicles
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Twitter

Label: WormHoleDeath Records – Website | Facebook | Twitter

6:33 is:
-Florent Charlet : (vocals)
-Bénédicte Pellerin : (vocals)
-Nicolas Pascal : (guitars, keyboard programming, vocals)
-Emmanuel Rousseau : (keyboard and drum programming)
-Sylvain Mazeau : (bass)
-Richard Dubois Matra (keyboards)