Elephants of Scotland: Good Morning, Gettysburg – Live at Rosfest 2014

Having just reviewed the band's latest and excellent CD Execute and Breathe I was quite excited to give this one a spin as well. Good Morning, Gettysburg is a two disc set (CD/DVD) featuring the band's 2014 appearance at RoSfest at the Majestic Theater in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The tracks are taken from both of the band's studio albums; Home Away From Home and Execute and Breathe. For those of you following this band it should come as no surprise this is a fantastic performance.

The first song "Starboard", taken from Home Away From Home features an outstanding spacey synth intro soon followed by the entire band heading into an explosive Rush-like groove. The music mellows as the vocals start backed with a wonderful repeating synth line. The synths and addictive guitar riffs make this one a powerful and melodic statement from the band. The bass is also prominent here. "The Other Room" is another wonderful performance opening with back and forth chiming guitar chords leading to catchy riff progressions, fat bass grooves and strong lead vocals. "Full Power" is a delightful nugget of catchy neo prog featuring melodic synth lines, poignant piano, pretty acoustic guitar and serene lead vocals. "Endless (parts 1)" is another excellent slice of heavy prog where staccato Rush-like rhythms, winding synths and complex drum patterns coalesce into one hell of a sonic thrill ride whereas "Endless (part 2)" is a much more mellower affair with slow moving guitar strums and gently flowing keys until rapid fire drumming picks up the tempo and the band gets into a much heavier groove. "Home Away From Home" gives us another heavy groove with superb bass and soaring lead guitar with some extra bite.

"Errol McSquisitor" ends the performance on an atmospheric note with a slower tempo, refined lead vocals, spacey synths and brilliant guitar exploits. Even on the mellower tracks there is an abundance of riches to be found.

The bonus DVD includes a video of the entire concert and an impressive studio performance from Ornan as he lays down some fabulous chops on a remixed version of "Geograph", taken from the first album. The concert footage is well worth watching as the video and sound quality is quite good.

Good Morning, Gettysburg is an absolute winner from a band that is now high on my radar. If you were fortunate enough to see this performance live I am sure this package will be money well spent. If you weren't, well, this will give you an idea of what you missed. Highly recommended!

Track Listing:
CD
1. Starboard
2. The Other Room
3. Full Power
4. Endless (pt. 1)
5. Endless (pt. 2)
6. Amber Waves
7. Home Away From Home
8. Mousetrap
9. Boxless
10. TFAY
11. The Seed
12. A Different Machine
13. Errol McSquisitor

DVD
• Full Concert (same track listing as above)
• Bonus Features

Added: May 28th 2015
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Official Site
Hits: 2216
Language: english

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