Echo Rhythm: The Program

The Program is the debut studio album by US instrumental Prog metal band Echo Rhythm, the brainchild of musicians Greg Rosenblit (keyboards and programming) and Josh Adams (bass) The album opens with the 12 plus minutes track “100 Years� with heavy and atmospheric catchy guitar riffing and some arpeggio-like electric licks that create kind of a hypnotic ambience. Tasty piano, fat bass lines and tight drumming round up the sound. Cool track, not much happening here but quite enjoyable. After that opening track, nothing really changes much, maybe the bass tone (Waters, Duda type of sound) or the way the guitars approach their soloing while they often exchange the leading role with the keyboards (mostly classic piano sounding). At some spots the riffing becomes heavier, and the drumming sounds a bit more human, however it doesn’t take the listener anywhere new, by this point I’m not sure if its intentional or just a lack of creativity, I’ll shoot for the first option. By the time the “Warrior Mountain� arrives I’m officially bored. There’s evident quality in the way the album is arranged and produced, but it sounds more like one unfinished composition being played over and over with different (and not so quite) endings.It's the closing piece which finally brings an alternate look and feel to the musical journey, melodic guitar licks are back with some operatic sounding keys that take over the last minute or so, alongside the final voices, and so it fades.

At first listen the album did catch my attention; I instantly knew it was kind of shallow but wanted to give it a second (and even third) chance. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything underneath those superficial musical layers.

The ideas might be there as well as the melodies, but for an all-instrumental album I find its proposal a little flat and dull.

Track Listing

1. 100 years (12:25)
2. Under A Red Sky (3:10)
3. Across the Constellations (4:12)
4. Corrupted Earth (4:28)
5. Warrior Mountain (2:51)
6. The Side of Darkness (5:35)

Added: May 21st 2022
Reviewer: Jose Antonio Marmol
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 589
Language: english

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