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██▌ Artist...: Jordan Rudess ░▐██▌
░▐██ Album....: Permission to Fly ░██▌░
▓▐██ Year.....: 2024 ▓▐██▓
▓▐██ Rel. Date: 2024-12-22 ░▐██▓
▐██ Genre....: Progressive Rock ██▌░
░ ██▌ Label....: Inside Out Music ██▌
▐██ Source...: CD ▐██
░▐██▌ Type.....: Retail ▐██▌░
▓▄████ Quality..: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo ████▌░
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1. The Final Threshold 4:06
2. Into the Lair 9:31
3. Haunted Reverie 5:14
4. The Alchemist 8:36
5. Embers 4:03
6. Shadow of the Moon 5:29
7. Eternal 8:53
8. Footstep in the Snow 4:02
9. Dreamer 5:03
54:57
Okay, letÆs get this thing off my chest right off the bat û when Kevin
Moore left DREAM THEATER in 1994 and was replaced by Jordan Rudess, it
took me quite a few years to get my head around the change of keyboard
style. I mean, while Moore was no stranger to rapid-fire keyboard runs,
Rudess did go one louder in this respect and, then, I must admit to not
exactly having been the greatest fan of Rudessæ choice of synth timbres
at times (cÆmon, you simply do not try to emulate the electric guitar û
or worse, the acoustic! û with the keyboards, man!) Over the years, I
could not help noticing, however, that every time Rudess featured as a
guest on other artistsÆ albums or played with his other supergroup
LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT, he used to drop nothing short of haunting
keyboard chops almost as though suggesting that he needed tight reigns
to pull his best stuff. So, due to this rather ambiguous relationship I
have with his musicianship, I have not dared to pick up on his solo
endeavors û until now. The thing is û his new solo album ôPermission to
Fly,ö set for release on September 6th, 2024, via InsideOut Music, is
his 20th solo effort overall! I probably would have skipped it
altogether, had I not accidentally been exposed to a teasing video clip
of the song, ôThe Alchemist,ö recently. It won me over, instantly. I
sure like the thick HAKEN vibes of the song! So, I thought that if this
was anything to go by, I probably shouldnÆt skip this opportunity to
review the whole album. Well, then, how does it fare?
Starting from the song above, its plus-8 minutes of progressive black
magic sure pack some quantum punch with all those mind-bending riffs and
soaring melodies, resonating by turns with the thick air of vintage YES
and HAKEN. Vocalist That Joe Payne does a magnificent job, especially
with those rapid, odd-meter lines. It is hard to resist the temptation
to dub this particular track the best song Rudess has ever written û
yes, even without being familiar with his previous solo stuff because
this song is simply progressive metal at its finest. Maybe this 9-minute
epic should have been released as the first single off the album instead
of the piano-driven prog anthem, ôEmbers,ö but thatÆs just, like, my
opinionà
Rewinding to the beginning of the album, ôThe Final Thresholdö sets the
bar rather high right from the start by way of throwing a somewhat DREAM
THEATER-like curve ball of riffs. The opening riff even recalls the vibe
from their 1989 debut ôWhen Dream and Day Unite,ö so maybe the styles of
Rudess and Moore arenÆt really that disparate, after all. Then, as if to
further pronounce this, the follow-up 9-minute prog epic, entitled ôInto
the Lair,ö even recalls CHROMA KEY on occasion û the band that Moore
joined after leaving DREAM THEATER back in the day. I mean, considering
the kind of prog mayhem Rudess is famous for, this song comes off rather
restrained.
Speaking of which, ôHaunted Reverieö turns out to be a smooth cross
between Steven Wilson and JOURNEY, adorned with a good few jazzy guitar
licks, courtesy of guitarist Steve Dadaian, I believe. The album
features two guitarists, with Bastian Martinez contributing solos on two
tracks û ôInto the Lairö and ôEmbers.ö There is a short video on Rudessæ
website shedding some additional information about the choice of
guitarists û what I found the most interesting was the part where Rudess
admitted that, despite having some spectacular VST-guitar sound
libraries, those virtual guitars did not sound organic enough for this
particular project. So, there you have it! The less Rudess tries to
sound like a guitarist, the more I like his keyboard chops.
I reckon Rudess handled the bass parts himself since the press release
did not disclose any information about this department. Some of the
riffs sound pretty bad-ass and, judging by the sound of it, the somewhat
power-balladeering ôShadow of the Moonö even features the fretless bass
û not bad! The funky riffs in ôEternalö shine, in particular. The
interplay of the bass, guitar, and keyboards works wonders in the verses
û and while the keyboard solos are consistently superb, the brief,
staccato solo in this track sounds particularly spirited. So, it seems
that, once again, the longest tracks stand out the most.
Delightfully enough, there arenÆt too many power ballads on the album,
although there are ballad-like sections in quite a few of the songs.
There is only one song that could be dubbed a straight-up ballad û
ôFootstep in the Snow.ö It is also the one song that might take some
time to get my head around as I am notoriously not on good terms with
ballads. That said, the album closer, ôDreamer,ö is yet another
slow-tempo-ish track but it is more like an instrumental outro and a
highly cinematic while at it. So, overall, the ratio of ballads with
this effort is a rather good one.
Who would have thought that one of the most famous prog-pyrotechnicians
û or notorious, depending on your view on these things û would release
perhaps the biggest positive surprise in 2024 so far? I guess the 2021
album, ôA View from the Top of the World,ö by DREAM THEATER was
foreboding, in a way; these elderly statesmen of progressive metal seem
to be aging like fine wine. Moreover, ôThe Alchemistö is one of the best
prog tunes released this year.
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