Style: Traditional (Clean vocals)
Review by: Dylan
Country: US-TN
Release date: 25 September, 2020
Were you ever listening to Dream Theater in your room thinking ”Man, it’d be cool as hell if I had a band that celebrates what prog metal is all about”? If you did, you can find ReFrame‘s motivations as a band to be relatable (and so do I). This is how hundreds of thousands of prog metal bands are born, yet only a select few seem to come out with a project that’s 100% successful, either because it’s a very well made recreation of what’s known, or a twist to the genre.
ReFrame‘s music shows a lot of love and passion for the genre, it really does sound like a couple guys (and one gal) having a go at the genre they know and love. And while the motivation may be, by all means and purposes fine, it’s certainly not an easy type of music to just ”create because you love”. And unfortunately, that is the very first problem with Reaching Revery, attempting to fly when a band has yet to perfect running.
But what do I mean by saying they have yet to perfect running? Well, music production and writing is not a simple job. There’s close to billions of artists out there trying to make a splash in their particular scene, and fewer do the further our form of art progresses. Which is why it’s absolutely essential to at least have some basic ideas of structure, production, flow, and songwriting before even attempting to compose a prog album. One look at this album’s length (103 minutes) will tell you that flow may be an issue in this album, and it is. Opening with a 31 minute track called ”F.E.A.R”, entirely sung by a guest vocalist, is an extremely bold move for a band’s prog debut. However, after the first 10 minutes I came to the conclusion that it was rather unnecessary. Even albums from genre giants like The Flower Kings suffer from an overwhelmingly long opener, so ReFrame suffering from it is no surprise. While it’s hard to pin-point the moment where it goes wrong, there are many small failures throughout it (such as an overly long piano intro, a lack of concrete hooks/riffs, weird transitions, etc.) that add up and make the track rather unpleasant to listen to.
Lucky for me, that was ‘only’ the first 31 minutes of the album, so I was weirdly optimistic about the rest of it. Opening the rest of the album is ”The Unbegun” a track that shows far more focus than the actual first track of the album. While you can tell the band hasn’t quite found their sound, there’s good number of things to be excited about: the bass playing is very interesting and engaging, hooks are finally making an appearance and they’re rather exciting. As we continue with the album we reach the ballad ”all yours” featuring female singer Kayla Tuttle. And her two features on the album are a genuine pleasure; the way her vocals overlap with the main singer’s and her solo moments are very pleasant to the ears.
As you further progress into the album, you start to get the feel you did while powering through the opener. Its issues start to translate into the rest of the album, and it makes it decline in a similar way. There’s 72 minutes of way too much music, with so little of it remaining memorable. Sometimes it gets too ballad-y, sometimes there seems to be no hook to grasp yourself on-to, sometimes everything lacks a little punch… and just like that, the general experience while listening to Reaching Revery becomes below average.
By having to suggest skipping the opener, this was already not going to get a great score (no album in which you should skip 31 minutes of it will), but the rest of the album, while promising in some aspects, generally falls flat. I’d say that ReFrame should get back to the drawing board, take the positives from what’s been accomplished, improve production value, trim the fat in some tracks (and scrap a few more tracks in general), and the general outcome of their sophomore album will be much more pleasing.
Recommended tracks: The Unbegun, All Yours
Recommended for fans of: The Flower Kings, Universe Effects
Final verdict: 4.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Label: Independent
ReFrame is:
– Drew McFarlane: Keys
– Ed Johnson: Bass
– Matt Sweatt Drums
– David L.J. George: Vocals
– Phil Berger: Guitars
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