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"A newcomer from Germany, Issun will delight melodic progressive rock lovers with "Dark Green Glow"."
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3/5
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Issun means "one inch" in Japanese. It's the name of a lilliputian nicknamed "the wandering artist" in the Okami video game. However, it is not from Japan but from Germany that this new progressive rock band arrives with its second album "Dark Green Glow", the first one, released in 2015, having gone completely unnoticed. Initially, Issun was the project of one man: Tobias Schröder, singer, pianist and percussionist. But for this new opus, which took two years of work, the Hanover native surrounded himself with session musicians, including his brother Simon on drums, to give substance to what seems to have become a group in its own right today.
A concept album telling the rather fuzzy story of a child trapped in his nightmares symbolized by a threatening and dark forest, "Dark Green Glow" is built around the omnipresent piano and the superb voice of Tobias Schröder, whose timbre strangely recalls Steve Perry (Journey) by its clarity and Daniel Gildenlöw (Pain Of Salvation) by its intonations.
Nourished by numerous and eclectic influences, Issun's music is centred on beautiful melodies ('Remember Me') and sweeps a very wide spectrum of musical colours, alternating pop rock tracks inspired by A.C.T. ('Lost Generation') and Toto ('Even') and frankly progressive tracks reminiscent of Genesis ('Falling Away') while discreetly flirting with progressive metal ('Sleep In The Forest').
The main quality of "Dark Green Glow" is to play the game of the concept album by really telling a story in music. And the theme of the lush forest is ideal for musicians to express themselves, especially the guitar solos inspired and melodic perfectly performed by the excellent Martin Schnella (Flaming Row), and to infuse Issun's music with an amazing tribal atmosphere through a beautiful work on percussion ('Twilight Forest','Jessica').
However, according to the established formula, the album has the defects of its qualities and sometimes lets itself be overwhelmed by its purpose and its excessive musical generosity. Thus the 17-minute epic "Tempest Of Laughter", despite some very beautiful passages, would have greatly deserved to be amputated with a few useless digressions and the very progressive "Dark Green Glow" tends to fall flat by its experimental and catch-all side which damages the melodic cohesion of the album.
That said, even if "Dark Green Glow" is not of a crazy originality and refers more to the past than to the future in its musical approach, the album is a pleasure to listen to and Issun shows a real know-how that makes it a promising melodic progressive rock band. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Think I´ll Stay In Bed Today - 2:36
02. Lost Generation - 5:11
03. Falling Away - 7:43
04. Sleep In The Forest - 6:20
05. Tempest Of Laughter 17:02
06. Twilight Forest - 6:42
07. Dark Green Glow - 9:24
08. Jessica - 2:31
09. Remember Me - 8:21
10. Even - 3:56
LINEUP:
Marc Andrejkovits: Basse
Markus Ottenberg: Guitares
Simon Schröder: Batterie
Tobias Schröder: Chant / Claviers / Percussions
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4/5 (1 view(s))
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STAFF:
3/5 (1 view(s))
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