Genres: Progressive Metal (Clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Haken, Devin Townsend, Dream Theater
Country: Germany/International
Release date: 15 March, 2024
You’ve heard of The Ocean Collective and Nova Collective, now get ready for The Progressive Souls Collective! Coming hot on the heels of their debut Sonic Birth comes Sonic Rebirth; I feel like you have to do something in the intervening four years to warrant a rebirth but fine, I won’t quibble. The Progressive Souls Collective is the project of German multi-instrumentalist Florian Zepf, who handles all of the guitar work, keyboards, programming, banjo, mandolin and more. He’s joined by drummer Tim Korycki, bassist Jamie Powell, and the excellent Vladimir Lalić (Organized Chaos, David Maxim Micic, Charlie Griffiths) whose unique timbre and acrobatic vocal skills are always a good listen, and a number of guests contribute, too, to the collective.
The result is an album that tries so hard to be great and falls flat all too frequently. Writing about Sonic Rebirth has been a challenge because on paper it’s very much my kind of thing, but in practice there are some inescapable issues. The band’s vibe is best compared to Lalić’s aforementioned bands or a mix of Devin Townsend off-kilterness with Haken-y modern trad, but Sonic Rebirth is perhaps most defined by Zepf and Powell’s contributions, and not for the better.
Compositionally, Zepf suffers from a tendency to revisit rather utilitarian riffs—“Part IV: Destroy Chemistry” is the worst offender for this, its main riff egregiously lifeless, utterly lacking in feel. While the motif on “Part II: I Am Here” which grows into an expanded main riff on “Part III: Of My Senses” is admittedly a bit of an earworm, all too often riffs that are supposed to be exciting are either cliched or dull palm-muted-open-string chugs. And this is somewhat strange given Zepf’s guitar and keyboard solos contain everything the riffs lack, and indeed, tend to be the saving grace of each track. When Lalić belts away over layers of synth and lead melodies the songs blossom into life, but we invariably end up thrust back to more of the uninspired rhythms. Both guitar and bass are too loud in the mix but Powell additionally suffers from one of the worst bass tones I’ve ever heard, a jarring, metallic twang so piercing that it’s often impossible to tell what note he’s actually playing, and it thuds away under almost everything. Suffice to say, the fatal flaw of The Progressive Souls Collective is its rhythm section, despite the admirable contributions of Korycki who does his best to inject these loud, dull riffs with some excitement.
And that’s a real shame because apart from those two issues, this really is an interesting album with some ambitious ideas. The flow of the first three tracks, constantly developing on the ideas of the last, helps create a sense of flow; Lalić’s vocals do a lot of the heavy lifting (you’ll be singing “I am heeeeereeee” to yourself after listening); and the guitar and keyboard solos frequently dazzle. “Part III: Of My Senses” ends with an unusual world percussion outro, “Part I: About to Leave” injects a folky sensibility with some Uilleann pipe and flutes, and elsewhere duduk, accordion and strings are utilised. However, “Part IV: The Core” is the real crown jewel of Sonic Rebirth, a twelve minute epic which, at around the 5:30 mark, segues into a gorgeous symphonic interlude with pensive strings and piano, and lead guitar floating above unencumbered by flaccid riffs and bass; the core of “The Core” really is a beautiful place to be. The outro of the track revisits the symphonic side of things with an emphasis on piano and choir, and “Part VIII: Goodbye to Love”, which acts as a coda to the album, again combines lead guitar, piano and clean guitar without rhythm or bass, and it sounds great as a result. These two final tracks really underscore Sonic Rebirth’s main issue once and for all: bass and riffs that are as loud as they are banal.
And those are fixable issues, taking little more than some concerted focus on writing and mixing. Addressing them will do a lot to elevate The Progressive Souls Collective to the heights they desire to reach, and it’s those collective aspects that really do shine brightest; the moments of symphonic and folk influence, layers of synth, and guest musician’s contributions conveying a sense of vision that reaches beyond the unfortunate core limitations. I don’t know how many lives the band have, but I hope they’ve got at least one more rebirth in them.
Recommended tracks: “Part III: Of My Senses”, “Part VII: The Core”
You may also like: Organized Chaos, Charlie Griffiths, Spheres
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook
Label: Metalville Records – Facebook | Official Website
The Progressive Souls Collective is:
– Vladimir Lalić – Lead vocals, backing vocals
– Megan Burtt – Guest lead vocals (Part V)
– Florian Zepf – All electric & acoustic guitars, pedal-steel- & resonator-guitars, banjo, mandolin, additional lead vocals (Part II), backing vocals, programming, additional percussions
– Jamie Powell – Bass (all songs except Part V)
– Simen Daniel Lindstad Børven – Bass (Part V)
– Tim Korycki – Drums (all songs except Part V)
– Adam Marko – Drums (Part V)
– Luis Conte – Percussions (Part III)
– Isaac Alderson – Uilleann pipes & flutes (Part I)
– Aneesh Kashalikar – Duduk (Part IV & Part VII)
– Damiano Della Torre – Accordion (Part V)
– Maria Grigoryeva – Violins, violas & cello (Part VII)
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