Style: Progressive Metal (mostly clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Ayreon, Haken, Seventh Wonder, Symphony X
Review by: Ian
Country: USA (New Jersey)
Release date: 28 October 2023
Ah, the prog concept album. A natural fit for the high-minded subgenre, it nonetheless is a difficult needle to thread. Describe the story too directly, and you have the auditory equivalent of loredumping your D&D world upon an uncaring audience, but describe it too vaguely, and there might as well not be a storyline at all unless you outright tell your audience what’s going on outside of the album itself. Still, despite the opinion of my colleague Andy that concepts are “useless,” I believe they have serious potential in the right hands. Music and storytelling have been deeply intertwined art forms since the dawn of mankind for a reason, after all, and the right narrative arc can massively enhance the emotionality of any tune.
It is in this tradition that New Jersey-based bassist and songwriter Rope Ganjee, along with his merry band of collaborators, has released his second album under the CrowsVsRavens moniker, a mere ten months after his first. This new opus promises a “full storyline concept album with a dark sci-fi theme,” and with a fully kitted-out crew of six guest vocalists, Ganjee is clearly shooting for a vast, sweeping Ayreon-style space opera. Can this motley crew pull off their mission, or will their ship crumble under the weight of its ambitions?
Well, as it turns out, said ambitions aren’t quite as heavy as they may appear. Perhaps in response to criticism that their debut could have done with some fat-trimming, Ganjee & co. have cut Within the Depths down to a tight sub-forty minutes. In terms of listenability and flow, this is largely to the album’s benefit, rendering it a relatively breezy listen that doesn’t wear out its welcome when played from front to back. Stylistically, the album’s self-proclaimed “diverse” nature initially seems to pan out, as opener “What Lies Below” kicks off with an unexpectedly dancey four-on-the-floor beat before jumping between burly, orchestra-backed riffs and brief, pensive breathers of organ and acoustic guitar. But this variety runs a bit dry through the album’s middle, as most of the other vocal tracks go for a straightforward prog-power approach with little in the way of major stylistic left turns. The instrumentals fare a bit better, particularly “Space Cowboy” and its vaguely funky midsection, but on the whole I’m left feeling disappointed that the overall sonic palette isn’t quite as adventurous as promised.
This comparatively streamlined approach also makes the album’s concept feel a bit lacking. The plot here can be explained in a couple sentences: A mysterious Lovecraftian phenomenon causes all of humanity to abandon the land and assimilate into an eldritch race of fish-people- all except for one astronaut, the ridiculously-named Percy Bysshe Deucalion. He floats through space, running steadily lower on both resources and sanity, until giving up and splashing back down into the ocean to join the rest of humanity in their soggy apotheosis. So yeah, this won’t be winning any Hugo awards, though I do give it points for clearly conveying its narrative through lyrics. The barebones plot is exacerbated by the fact that of the eleven tracks here, three are instrumental, leaving only five “proper” songs and three brief, rather stiffly acted spoken-word interludes to tell the story- basically an EP’s worth of lyrical material.
Alright, so the concept’s a wash, but at least there are some pretty solid instrumental performances on display. Guitarists Rich Grabowsky and Filippo Rosati fill the record with professionally executed riffs and melodies that serve the songs seamlessly, and Chris Bohm’s drums guide the shifting time signatures with a creativity and flair that makes me a little surprised he’s not credited as a co-composer. Harry Tadayon’s keys and orchestrations also add some nice texture to the album’s softer moments, and he even gets a brief solo on “Deus Ex Machina”. Most of the solos here are handled by Oleh Andrievsky, who pulls out some neatly frenetic leads over “Spider in a Jar” and the chug-tacular back half of “Ghost in the Machine”. But make no mistake, the lead instrument for most of this album is Ganjee’s bass. He is both a: a very technically adept musician and b: the guy who composed most of the album, and he makes sure to continually remind the listener of both of those facts. As a bassist myself, I always appreciate a prominent bassline, and for the most part his playing elevates the music quite a bit. However, he does occasionally lose the plot when it comes to the groove, sometimes even rushing ahead of the rest of the band’s tempo. If he can just restrain his ego a bit and keep time with the music, though, his “lead bass” approach has a lot of promise.
Lacking the extensive network of internationally-renowned singers that Arjen taps into for each Ayreon release, Ganjee has instead sourced his squad of guest vocalists from Fiverr, resulting in something of a mixed bag. Everged’s performance on “What Lies Below” is the most consistent and smooth, channeling Tommy Karevik and Ross Jennings in turn. Trevor Laake and Max Herder both pull off numerous high wails in “Spider in a Jar” and “Deus ex Machina” respectively, though Laake sounds significantly more comfortable in that range. Jamie Wiltshire has the most diverse part to tackle on “Final Entry” and mostly pulls it off, with his grittier highs contrasting nicely with Vedrolina’s more ethereal approach towards the climax. Surprisingly, “Left Behind” has Ganjee himself taking the mic, and he actually does alright for someone who isn’t primarily a singer- his tone isn’t the nicest, and a couple of his screams come off a tad cringy, but he hits the notes and gets the job done.
My final gripe is with the album’s production- though it generally comes together alright, there are a few points where the overall execution falls flat and parts don’t hit as hard as they should. Bohm’s drumming is particularly inconsistent; sometimes it’s full and organic, other times underpowered and plasticky. Another example comes in the final minute of “Deus Ex Machina”, where a big, climactic double-time power metal beat has its impact deadened to an awkward thud by Max Herder’s oddly undermixed vocal entrance. There are bits of the album that feel like they could have used some more editing, like the aforementioned off-time bass or the weird out-of-nowhere scream shoved into the end of the closer. A bit more polish all around would have done this project good.
All in all, though, Within the Depths is an enjoyable listen, despite its many flaws. The story may be a bit half-baked, and the production a bit rough around the edges, but there’s clear passion and talent on display here from all involved, and no one defect is enough to take the listener out of the experience completely. This is the sound of an artist with a great deal of potential cutting away the fat before they can build up the muscle, and I look forward to see what gains are made in the next release.
Recommended tracks: What Lies Below, Space Cowboy, Final Entry
You may also like: Nospūn, Novena, Flaming Row, Maestrick
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Metal-Archives page
CrowsVsRavens is:
– Rope Ganjee (bass, vocals on “Left Behind”, spoken word, some guitars)
– Chris A. Bohm (drums)
– Rich Grabowsky (guitars)
– Filippo Rosati (guitars)
– Oleh Andrievsky (guitar solos)
– Harry Tadayon (orchestration, synths)
– Ged “Everged” Cartwright (vocals on “What Lies Below”)
– Trevor Laake (vocals on “Spider in a Jar”)
– Elvya Dulcimer (vocalizations on “Space Cowboy”)
– Max Herder (vocals on “Deus ex Machina”)
– Jamie Wiltshire (vocals on “Final Entry”)
– Vedrana “Vedrolina” Juričić (vocals and spoken word on “Final Entry”)
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