Navigating You Through the Progressive Underground

Album art by Dan Stokes, Amber Reeves & Kyros

Style: Progressive rock, synth-pop (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Frost*, poppy Devin Townsend, early Haken, ‘80s Rush and Yes
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 22 November 2024

If you missed Kyros’ fourth album Mannequin when it was released earlier this year, the first thing you should do is read my review of it, stick it on, and then continue reading. Go on, it’s okay, you won’t miss anything, I’ll just be reading this old copy of Playboy I found in a bush. 

… [Subvocalising]: What’s with all these naked women? Where’s Norman Mailer’s column?… 

Oh, you’re back, I didn’t realise! [throws the magazine out of a window] Where were we? The British group have cultivated a niche of their own, an unexpectedly brilliant blend of 80s synth pop and new wave with the neo-progressive rock of bands like Frost*. Their latest ‘mini-EP’, Fear & Love, an addendum to Mannequin, is a svelte package of two new songs, poppy banger “Fear & Love” and the more sprawling ten minute epic “Duchess Desire”, with an instrumental version of each in tow. 

“Fear & Love”1 somehow manages to contain the glitz and groove of Duran Duran with noodly bass riffs and charming 80s synth chimes, and yet playing with some insanely thicc riffs, guitarist Joey Frevola and bassist Charlie Cawood positively djenting VOLA-style at times. The composition is an exercise in controlled chaos, random little guitar and synth licks interspersing themselves judiciously, a lively kaleidoscope of sounds, but without becoming busy. Some of its more chaotic moments recall “The End in Mind” from Mannequin, and both tracks, in the annals of Kyrosian history, throwback to the complexity of the Four of Fear EP. Are Kyros EPs destined to be the place where they explore their more metal inclinations, or is this a new paradigm for the band going forward?

“Duchess Desire” reprises a variety of motifs from Mannequin and perhaps beyond: both the lyrics of “Esoterica” and the vocal melodies, finds themselves transformed, remixed and renewed culminating in an epic lead guitar lick, and I’m sure there’s a subtle nod to “Liminal Space” in there. The sweeping scope of the track, continually building and evolving, recalls the lengthier tracks found on Celexa Dreams, and it sojourns through calmer moments, quiet lead guitar licks, and bombastic hooks; eventually the track explodes into frenetic shred and an enormous brassy-synth propulsed crescendo. 

Every aspect of Kyros is sounding refreshed and renewed; Mannequin remains one of the year’s best releases, but Fear & Love take things a step further, the production in particular possessing a little more lustre as Shelby’s already skilled mixing continues to improve; this particular benefits the vocals which sit a touch more organically in the composition here, and the low end which has a little more weight than it did on tracks like “The End in Mind” and “Have Hope”. Kyros’ continued evolution has been fascinating to watch. Go back to “Cloudburst” and you’re hardly listening to amateur hour, but the band keep going from strength to strength; Celexa Dreams smuggled a New Order sensibility into prog rock, while Mannequin felt like the energy of Frost* and Haken applied to the groove of 80s new wave.

The instrumental versions of the two tracks speak for themselves, but I confess to having become a little more enamoured of such bonuses recently. Disillusion released an instrumental version of their monstrous 2022 album Ayam this month and it was fascinating to be able to hear the little flourishes that become buried beneath the vocals. The same applies to Fear & Love; Kyros like to layer their mix with a lot of elements in a Townsendian fashion, and all the bells and whistles you notice here and there are more obvious sans vocals, testament to the intricacy of the compositions. And if that wasn’t enough, you can also do your own abysmal karaoke version over the instrumentals and who doesn’t want that2?

As a coda to Mannequin, Fear & Love showcases the band at their very best, and as a transitional step between albums it’s an exciting snippet of things to come. The star of Kyros, this unique entry into the annals of prog, just keeps rising thanks to a persistence of vision, to always keeping in motion, and to having hope. 


Recommended tracks: There’s two of them, pick one, then listen to the other
You may also like: Joey Frevola, Cheeto’s Magazine, Azure, Moron Police
Final verdict: same as Mannequin as I basically consider this an addendum to it. Yeah, now you wish you’d read the review I hyperlinked at the beginning, don’t you?!

  1.  Am I crazy or can you sort of hear “Driving in My Car” by Madness in the intro riff? Replace it all with car horns and door slams and I swear to god they’d be similar. ↩︎
  2. Me. I’m the one who doesn’t want that. Please send your abysmal karaoke versions to Kyros and not me. ↩︎

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Label: Independent

Kyros is:
– Shelby Logan Warne (keys and vocals)
– Joey Frevola (guitars)
– Charlie Cawood (bass)
– Robin Johnson (drums/percussion)

With:
– Peter Episcopo (backing vocals)
– Canyo Hearmichael (saxophone)


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