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Progland was founded by John Gabbard in 2005. It's purpose has been to provide you, the music community with the latest music and dvd reviews. It will continue to be your link to the most popular music reviews in the progressive world.

 

Conspiracy - "The Unknown"

Reviewed by: Tommy Hash
Genre: Prog Rock
Country: England
Language: English
Length: 53:32
Release Date: July 8, 2003
Label:
Inside Out U.S.
Band Members: Chris Squire / vocals, bass guitar Billy Sherwood / vocals, guitar/Keyboards
  Jay Schellen / drums
 
Track Listing: 1.)- Conspiracy 5:05 8.) - The Unknown 11:21
  2.)- Confess 4:37 9.)- I Could (bonus) 4:22
  3.)- New World 7:22  
  4.)- ½ A World Away 5:48  
  5.)- There is no End 5:15  
  6.)- The Wheel 5:27  
  7.)-Premonition 4:10
     
The Review

The dynamic duo of Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood return with their second album, which features a completely upbeat and technical overload of melodic and progressive structure, giving new light to the term "Conspiracy." ***

"The Unknown," is in direct relation, at least sound wise, to both World Trade albums as well as 90125/Big Generator-era Yes production styling, keeping pop elements present among the complex backdrop of various musical intervals. ***

Balancing out the influence of the two's musicianship, songwriting, and production values, both Squire and Sherwood have outdone themselves on this album, going beyond just the simple "project" connotations that seemed to be the case with their first album together. Looking at the production, very discrete engineering and mixing procedures were used placing effect upon effect enhancing the layers upon layers of instrumentation (lots of panning and delay effects were used). Both share equal amounts of the lead vocal duties, while performing perfect harmonies among Sherwood's high tenor (or maybe it's low alto) and Squire's baritone. ***

"Conspiracy" opens up with the song of the same name, which is an extremely upbeat cut which sounds just like it could have been a lost track from Big Generator, and just goes to show that these two art getting down to business immediately, instead of trying to open the record up with a two minute noisy Goth blunder "intro." Following up is "Confess," which a few parts of this cut reminds me of Led Zeppelin's "Friends" due to its dark harmonies and dark backdrop, however the chorus adds counterpoint to the song's structure, adding the brighter feel to it. "New World" sounds so much like a 90125 it almost sounds as if this cut was written for that record. The record takes a more eased back pace midway through the record, with "½ a World Away" and "Premonition" adding more laid back structure to a rather energetic album. The title cut offers the full-blown progressions with the occasional soloing and jamming, creating an extended conceptual opus. The record closes with "I Could," which is literally a retro World Trade cut (along the lines of their self titled debut album from 1989).***

With the mix of Keyboard ambience providing the rhythmic structure along Sherwood's guitar work and Squire's signature lead bass lines, the two have created an album beyond all of our expectations. In a last word, the title is sort of an oxymoron here, I mean "The Unknown," hell it is already "known" that this record is going to kick ass, I mean any Yes or World Trade fan will immediately be hooked on this record.***

Tommy Hash

 

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