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Review:
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More and more these days, I’m getting contacted
by individuals and bands looking for added exposure. One
such band is the Netherlands based outfit Ulysses. A band
that’s been around since mid-2001 and has now released their
second full length CD entitled The Gift of Tears. They were
kind enough to send me a copy. The five members of Ulysses
are Michael Hos (vocals), Ron Mozer (keyboards), Casper
Kroon (bass), René van Haaren (drums) and Sylvester Vogelenzang
de Jong (guitar). The band has experienced a change in lyrical
direction with the addition of new vocalist Hos. He felt
strongly about making the songs tell meaningful stories
about people experiencing real life dilemmas. What follows
are seven tracks that tell stories that are emotionally
driven.***
The first track “Family Portrait” [8:56]
starts things off with a bang, and you might be forgiven
for thinking Ulysses were yet another prog-metal band, although
they are certainly adept at that sub-genre. However the
second track “Guardian Angel” [9:10] with it’s Mellotron
sounding strings off the top and then saw-tooth synth lead
line, shows these guys can really put together some really
nice multi-layered symphonic prog. As you can see by the
first tracks these are not short songs, in fact most are
on the long-ish side allowing the band to really develop
some driving themes and melodies. Songs start and stop,
changing time and tempo in classic fashion. If you need
a tag, Ulysses would probably be best tagged as heavy-symphonic
in that there’s a whole lot more going on in these tracks
than you might expect to hear with something more prog-metal-ish.
For example “Lost” [6:33] begins with a slow piano and vocal
and runs for a full two-minutes before morphing into a nice
mid-tempo ballad featuring a nice sturdy guitar tone. The
song takes on a grand sweep reminding me of some of the
more panoramic music from Pink Floyd. On the first casual
listen there will certainly be times where the guitar takes
centre stage generating a strong prog-metal stance, but
upon further listens each song provides plenty of opportunity
for more symphonic elements to shine through. And as is
always the case, it’s the longer songs where the band has
ample opportunity to develop a more varied sound. The CD’s
epic final track “Anat” [14:52] which tells the tragic,
yet life-affirming tale of the death of 1-year old Anat
is an example of classic symphonic progressive rock. Ulysses
is a band that’s going to appeal to many followers. Those
in the prog-metal camp looking for something a little softer
or varied will find a lot to enjoy here. And followers of
symphonic prog looking for something with a little more
bite will also come to appreciate the musical style on display
on The Gift of Tears. I would tend to fall in the latter
category and found myself really enjoying to varied nature
of these compositions; you have a ton of heavy guitar for
one segment and then loads of keyboards the next. In Ulysses
the keyboards play a very important lead role right along
side the guitar. I think that really gives the music a depth
and richness that’s sometimes missing with heavier music.
I really liked the music of Ulysses and would certainly
find a lot to recommend to fans of both styles mentioned
above.
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