Axon-Neuron - Metamorphosis (2016)

Hoy estamos a puro chamber rock, primero con los taiwaneses de Cicanda y ahora con estos yankys que en realidad tienen un abanico sonoro inmenso: de la música de cámara al metal. Miren las sorpresas que les traemos! Música abstracta que no pierde el norte melódico, otra de las muchas joyas que nos depara este año para engalanar los oídos. El tercer disco de estudio de esta banda yanky, un disco doble que realmente hay que prestarle mucha atención porque seguramente les traerá momentos de asombroso placer auditivo. Otro de los discazos del 2016.

Artista: Axon-Neuron

Álbum: Metamorphosis
Año: 2016
Género: Chamber Rock / Heavy prog
Duración: 104:05
Nacionalidad: EEUU

Lista de Temas:
CD 1 (46:13)
1. Prelude I (6:28)
2. Euclid (4:31)
3. Suspicions (5:48)
4. Shattered (5:58)
5. Koan (3:42)
6. Eyes (6:04)
7. Erasure (5:54)
8. Postlude I (7:48)
CD 2 (57:52)
1. Prelude II (7:25)
2. Silence (7:23)
3. Kronos (7:35)
4. Summit (8:00)
5. Keepsakes (6:40)
6. Kafka (7:43)
7. Eulogy (4:53)
8. Postlude II (8:13)

Alineación:
- Amanda Rankin / voice
- Ryan McDermott / 6-string electric guitar
- Jeremey Poparad / 9-string electric guitar, acoustic guitar ("Koan"), 6-string electric guitar ("Silence", "Eulogy"), mandolin ("Silence"), electric bass, and glockenspiel
- Steven Miller / keyboards
- Dylan Gomez / percussion
Orchestra musicians:
- Molly Bontrager / 1st violin
- Jane Reed / 1st violin
- Becca Hall / 2nd violin
- Sarah Husak / 2nd violin
- Jamie Thornberg / viola
- Jamie Vaughn / viola
- Dan Peters / cello
- Miles Richardson / cello
- Ryan Critchfield / bass
- Parry Lopez / bass
- Bryan Thomas / bass
- Ian Wenz / flute
- Laura Lazarites / oboe
- Brad Wagner / clarinet
- Jayne Naragon / bass clarinet
- Michael Willard / 1st trumpet
- Mark Russo / 2nd trumpet
- Phil Tryon / F horn
- Aaron Thornberry / trombone
- Scott Thomas / percussion
- Corey Haren, Dylan Gomzez, Ryan McDermott, Steven Miller, Jeremey Poparad / additional vocals on "Koan"

Grandes discos andan dando vueltas, muchos excelentes trabajos han nacido estos años, y el 2016 parece ser una cosecha de primera (hablando de cosecha, ya vendrán las cargadas del Mago Alberto con respecto a ese líquido delicioso que se extrae de la uva fermentada. No Mago, no hablaba de vinos, hablaba de discos). Y es de recalcar que los mejores discos que han salido, casi en su mayoría, son trabajos independientes. Por algo será...

La evolución es una de esas características que podríamos considerar consustancial a cualquier forma de arte y, por lo tanto, también a la música. A medida que pasa el tiempo, nuevas propuestas, con marcadas características distintivas, comienzan a abrirse paso y contribuyen a engrandecer un siempre rico y variado legado, resultado de muchos años e ingentes esfuerzos de multitud de personas empeñadas en aportar su granito de arena en todo el panorama musical.
Hay bandas actuales ya sea progresivas como de Jazz rock que basan su sonido en los mamados en aquellos mágicos 70s donde los sonidos y los sesos volaron por los aires. Otras bandas, por lo contrario, prefieren transitar por caminos nuevos e inexplorados, tal es el caso de esta banda con nombre extraño e intenciones aún más estrambóticas. Sin embargo, su música es una mezcla de jazz y música clásica con rock progresivo influenciado por algunas intenciones cercanas al metal en pequeñas medidaa y bastante de vanguardia interpretando composición casi de música clásica interpretada por instrumentos orquestales acústicas o eléctricos y con la voz femenina muy eficaz en lo suyo.
Un disco de un exquisito Avant-garde prog metal muy extraño e inclasificable. Creo que lo más cercano para intentar apresarlos es la producción de sus paisanos maudlin of the Well, pero incluso hasta ahí nomás.
Las múltiples intenciones de la banda en cada tema no desentona con su estilo ecléctico, y todo es unido por su desarrolo melódico que es muy sólido y sustentable, con estructuras que generalmente giran alrededor de variaciones sobre progresiones o acordes jazzeros que vendría a ser como la raíz de una enredadera armónica llevada adelante con profesionalismo por unos músicos muy competentes.
las canciones funcionan como un bloque y la verdad no me detuve a verificar que el disco sea conceptual, y si es así sobre qué trata el concepto, porque la magia que tienen los tracks impiden que le presete mayor atención a otros elementos del disco.

Continuando el comentario que empezara el Mago Alberto este mismo día en la entrada del segundo disco de los italiano D.F.A. cuando comentaba: "ideal para aquellos que han perdido un poco la capacidad de asombro, también para aquellos ortodoxos que piensan que este es un estilo de pocos y que ya se hizo todo al respecto, pues bien acá están los DFA par demostrarte que eso no es verdad". Podemos seguir el hilo temático y agregar que, paradójicamente a esa tendencia generalizada a pensar que todo lo que ha podido hacerse ya se ha hecho y que hablar de propuestas nuevas no es más que un vano intento de engañarnos a nosotros mismos y engañar a los demás. Pues bien, me parece un interesante debate en el plano teórico. Pero en el plano de práctica, la verdad es que lo único que impone ese determinismo apocalíptico es el mercado, porque en el plano de lo creativo en el ámbito independiente, vivimos una era de explosión, calidad y diversificación musical extraordinaria.
Que el mercano impida o no le interese que se haga masivo, más la pasividad de la gente por buscar el verdadero arte que hace que casi sean trabajos desconocidos, es un punto aparte que tiene que ver más con el marketing de los negocios que dominan al mundo que a lo musical. Imagino que ya todos conocen mi punto de vista político y social-cultural, y ese punto de visto lo vuelco en el blog en cada momento. Es más, el blog mismo es una confirmación viviente de lo que digo: el sistema capitalista ha llegado para jodernos la vida (em algún momento lo dije puntualizándolo en la figura de Marioneta Macri) y es en la medida que podamos saltar sobre las cadenas y determinismos a los que nos vemos sometidos que podremos avanzar como individuos y como sociedad, y poder avanar y evolucionar t pasar a un estado más humano y a un mundo mejor.
Aquí podemos ver cómo hay grupos musicales que salen del determinismo y encasillamiento de las reglas de juego y crean obras enormes. Esta es otra más. Lo mismo podríamos buscar en todo el arte. Y no crean que no se produce esto en los movimientos sociales: hay tremendo aportes en todos los ámbitos pero siempre pequeños aunque en crecimiento. El tema es si las mayorías los querrán abrazar como propios y que reemplacen al Status Quo, pero ya me voy demasiado de tema. Volvamos al disco.



La banda es un excelente ejemplo de ilusión y entrega para sacar adelante un proyecto musical con sello propio e innovador (aquí, otra característica similar a los ya mencionados maudlin of the Well, y no se crean que es casualidad). Axon-Neuron desarrolla una propuesta que presenta una enorme diversidad de influencias desde diferentes géneros musicales; psicodelia, rock/metal progresivo, post rock, jazz, música contemporánea con influencias de corte más académico y vanguardista de diferente tipo, desplegando una enorme instrumentación a lo largo de cada track. Un trabajo que a pesar de sus mixturas es altamente heterogéneo, donde sus fuertes variaciones generan diferentes matices y estilos en una alternancia que forma la estructura que marca el sello de agua del grupo, en un trabajo de experimentación erxquisito.
El disco tiene muchos momentos reseñables, en el que hay cabida para todo tipo de comentarios y reseñas, pero me quiero quedar con esta impresión: este tipo de cosas es la que surge cuando la creatividad humana se pone en marcha y ya dejamos de llorar por aquellos memorables sonidos de los 70s, y logramos saltar por los determinismos de la sociedad-mercado y crear arte (o cualquier cosa que nos imaginemos) entera y completamente humanos.
¿El disco? Fantástico!! no dejen de escucharlo!
Aquí, algunas reseñas en inglés.

Absolutely astonishing music! So creative and progressive and ugly and beautiful. A truly prog masterpiece. Well done!!

Per Sundbom

Classic symphonic prog of the first order from Ohio's Jeremey Poparad and company, they possess a sound somewhere in the same ballpark with Germany's FREQUENCY DRIFT, Sweden's INTROITUS and Norway's WHITE WILLOW due in part to the presence of exceptional female lead vocalist in Amanda Rankin--though her singing style is more akin to that of THIEVES' KITCHEN's Amy DARBY. The guitar sound is a bit deeper, djenty--probably due to the presence of composer/producer Jeremey Poparad's 9-string electric guitar and full, deep bass sound. All songs are incredibly well constructed, recorded, performed and possess wonderful melodic and harmonic sensibilities.
CD1 1. "Prelude I" (6:28) is a classical music composition performed by acoustic orchestral instruments. (9/10)
2. "Euclid" (4:31) opens with harp-like arpeggi before a metal band orients us in a different direction. Djenty yet melodic, we are quickly introduced to the Amy DARBY-like vocal stylings of singer Amanda Rankin. The song breaks into several sections, though all continue to revolve around variations of the central arpeggiated chord progression from the intro. Brilliant! (9/10)
3. "Suspicions" (5:48) again structures itself around variations on a gentle four-chord jazz progression that is established in the opening--which is beautiful and hypnotic. Amanda's vocals here are her first attempt to get grungy--which doesn't work very well. Her voice is too pure and crystalline to rough up. Still, the song has many memorable and haunting elements that make it rise above the mis-matched vocal choices. Nice drumming and keyboard work on this one. (9/10)
4. "Shattered" (5:58) opens with plucked bass and upper octave piano play setting up for Amanda's delicate vocal. The song shifts into second gear at the one minute mark, and then into third with full band and orchestral instruments shortly thereafter. Nice jazz guitar leads throughout the song. The arpeggiated piano chord progression is quite lovely, quite engaging. Amanda's melody line, as well. At 3:20 things shift into a heavier gear. Nice! I find realizing that I wish Amanda's vocal had been mixed differently in the sonic field--more full and slightly forward. Nice electric guitar soli at the end of the fifth minute. This could be a masterpiece! (9/10)
5. "Koan" (3:42) opens with some nice acoustic guitar picking, over which Amanda begins singing in her upper registers. Quite lovely. As the full band and orchestral instruments join in I am definitely feeling the genius of this "big band" approach. This is a classy old-time jazz song with some modern instrumental twists. In fact, it is the orchestral strings and not the vintage and modern rock/jazz instruments that steal the show on this one. One of my favorites! (10/10)
6. "Eyes" (6:04) for the first two minutes contains some trip-hoppy drum sequences playing beneath the more constant presence of some floating plucked guitar chords and Amanda's singing. Then the music breaks into a more jazz-metal flow with lots of picking, plucking of strings while Amanda continues doing her Amy DARBY thing. At 4:00 the weave begins to sound like a DEVY TOWNSEND wall while Amanda's now treated voice falls a little back in the mix. Dreamy! At 5:00 things return briefly to the more dynamic, voice forward sound, before falling back into the dreamy style to the song's end. (9/10)
7. "Erasure" (5:54) opens as a duet with Jeremey's picked electric guitar and Amanda's voice. At the one minute mark the song kicks into a more poppy, almost Latino style while Amanda continues her story telling in and interesting alternating middle and low voice style. The instrumental portion of the third minute finds a much more jazzy Latin-like style with the use of several more complicated time signatures. The final minute of guitar weaving sounds again like a milder, less processed version of DEVIN TOWNSEND. (9/10)
8. "Postlude I" (7:48) opens with synth strings and orchestra instruments playing a beautiful stop-and-go, flow- between-octaves song. Glockenspiel and woodwinds take the leads during the first two minutes, but then low range winds take over before oboe and violins take their turns. In the fourth minute French horn horn-led horn section next get their say. Bassoons, flutes, and clarinets get a turn around the five minute mark. Beautiful melodies and harmonies are presented and woven in and out of simple and many-layered weaves throughout the course of this gorgeous piece of music. (10/10)
Using the now institutional Fishermetrics, the first CD with a total time of 46:13 is alone worthy of the "masterpiece" status.
CD2 1. "Prelude II" (7:25) continues the previous disc's pattern by opening with a composition that is composed and performed by a full orchestra. Percussion and pulsing lower strings notes establish the almost PHILLIP GLASS foundation over which violins and woodwinds play their weave of melodies. A more Baroque sound establishes itself in the third minute before making way for a more theatric, liturgical sparsely instrumented sound around 3:30. AT 4:20 we are returned to the more modern sounds and structures of the opening. It reminds me of NORTH SEA RADIO ORCHESTRA's "Berliner Luft" or "Mitte der Welt." Beautiful piece! (10/10) 2. "Silence" (7:23) opens with warmly picked electric guitar with accompaniment of trilling strings. The melody established feels quite theatric--as if we are getting ready to see an emotional love scene from Brigadoon or The King and I. Amanda's entry and presence confirms this as she gives us the warmest, most emotional performance of the album (thus far). The Post Rock-like drumming and full strings accompaniment are highlights, again. The piano solo in the fourth minute is too cheezy--over the top. Luckily Amanda's stunning performance helps us to quickly forget this. In my opinion, this is the first song in which the instrumental soli have negatively affected the overall outcome of the song, one in which the vocal could have been left to more sparse accompaniment. Amazing performance, Amanda. Amazing orchestral arrangement, Jeremey. Maybe that's all you should have concentrated on. (9/10) 3. "Kronos" (7:35) is my favorite song on the album. It has a WHITE WILLOW-FREQUENCY DRIFT like feel to it with Kashikura TAKASHI (TOE)-like drumming, CHICK COREA-like keyboard work, James Bond murder-mystery-like orchestration, and Amanda Rankin's beautiful vocal work (which, again, I find myself wishing were mixed more prominently into the soundscape). (10/10)
4. "Summit" (8:00) has the musical feel of a good OCEANSIZE song. This may be the best progressive rock song on the album. The guitar and bass interplay is remarkable for the precision of their 'conversations'. Neither the lyric nor the vocal add much; this could've been a great instrumental. (9/10)
5. "Keepsakes" (6:40) opens with some delicate percussion play into which a few sparse keyboard and guitar noises and/or chords are mixed. A delicate, slow, breathy vocal by Amanda Rankin ensues which is mirrored, note-for- note, by a heavily chorused lead electric guitar. Crazed jazzy electric piano play is going on beneath. Brilliant song! So unique and unusual! Psychedelic. On display here is yet more of diversely creative genius of everyone of these musicians and songwriters. Amazing! (10/10)
6. "Kafka" (7:43) is the only song that really doesn't work for me--and this is true on multiple levels. There are so many things going on, so many different styles and sounds, and, for some reason, they just don't gel as well as one would hope. A bit like a Dan Britton (CEREBUS EFFECT, DELUGE GRANDER, BIRDS & BUILDINGS, ALL OVER EVERYWHERE) song: Proggy but a little too esoteric. (7/10)
7. "Eulogy" (4:53) gets the prog back on track with a nice prog ballad in the Bill GILLHAM/CIRRUS BAY style. (9/10)
8. "Postlude II" (8:13) closes the second album out with another classical piece. Performed by orchestra, this one opens in a kind of DELIUS/ELGAR/BRITTEN pastoral style before detouring into a full-on blues-rock dirge--a folky version of a Clapton song, perhaps. Beautiful metaphor for the stylistic melange that is the entirety of this beautiful album. Well done, Ohio! (Nice vocal, Amanda! Nice guitar lead, Ryan! Amazing composition, Jeremey!) (10/10)
A stunningly original and mature album. I consider this a veritable masterpiece of eclectic and/or symphonic progressive rock and yet I can see where this band and its composer/producer have room to grow. Can't wait to see what they bring in the future!
Without question this is a five star album; a masterpiece of progressive rock music.

Drew Fisher

Wow! After just listening to latest, very disappointing Pineapple Thief's effort. This is a wonderful return to real progressive rock. I agree with my fellow reviewer, this 3rd album by Axon-Neouron is a masterpiece! The overwhelming wash of melody, musicianship and incredible composition is stunning. In my opinion this material is more in the 'Canterbury' genre with vocals and arrangements that carry on the fine tradition of Hatfield and the North and National Health. There is also a strong undercurrent of Gentle Giant eclectic ideas and arrangement. There is a lot in common with recent albums by the equally inventive and incredibly talented Thieves Kitchen. I will leave it to my other learned reviews to breakdown the individual tracks, but for those interested in new and incredibly inventive progressive rock/jazz/fusion/RIO this album is for you, do not delay in purchasing this wonderful album, you will not regret it. Axon-Neuton will delight and restore anyone's confidence that while some bands look to more commercial and/or 'metal' pastures, others, like the brilliant Axon-Neuron are still providing us with wonderful, exciting progressive rock (in the true sense of the word)

Brian Steffensen

Axon-Neuron from Akron Ohio...I don't recall seeing any discussion of this band. Metamorphosis is fantastic! I became aware of them from District 97's tour. did anyone happen to see them live? the music is a blend of jazz and classical influenced progressive rock with some metal thrown in for good measure. it's all topped with a sprinkling of avant-garde. female vocalist Amanda Rankin may conjure up some similarities but she is definitely her own voice. all of the musicians are solid. one of the best so far this year for me. anyone else?

proggosaurus

If you listen to the lyrics it sounds like they took the concept of "math rock" a bit too literally. Seriously though, this is an amazing double album of progressive rock/metal! Featuring clean female vocals and a small orchestra, I can recommend this VERY highly to anyone who likes prog. Favorite track: Eulogy.

Dillon Ethier

I was totally stunned, back in 2012, when Axon-Neuron released their previous album, Dreamstate. Their unique blend of jazz, classical and rock or metal music, the excellent vocal delivery, as well as the proficient use of a 9-string guitar, simply overwhelmed me, and I became an instant fan. Oh, and there was a string quartet in there, too. Three years and two thirds later and a bunch of personnel changes – Jeremey is the only member left from Dreamstate -, the band releases Metamorphosis, an almost two hour-long double album that takes all they’ve previously did and cranks it up. As Jeremey told me: “It’s prog. Go big or go home.”
Let’s start up with what led to Metamorphosis, says he:
I wrote the lyrics to the album in one month after parting ways with someone that had been in my life for a long time, so the songs all deal with change, letting go, and moving forward, hence [the name]. […] Although the lyrics came quickly, it took almost two years to write all the music to it since it’s a much slower and detailed process.
And detailed it is! First of all, the string quartet got expanded to a 21-piece full orchestra, which gives a lot of life to the songs, especially the orchestral preludes and postludes. Speaking of which, each disc starts and ends with a “Prelude” and a “Postlude” respectively, the former being made up of themes and melodies from the songs on their side, and the latter being original material. All of these are orchestra-only instrumental tracks, with the exception of “Postlude II”, which also features the full band and acts as an epic ending to this musical and emotional journey, with the “All things must change” leitmotif being obstinately repeated. This melody was also snuck in all of the previous songs as a way to stealthily introduce it – be aware of the Glockenspiel! -, so it seems familiar when you hear it at the end. Brilliant! Another “pretentious nerd fact” that the guitarist and composer shared with me: each of the twelve songs (not counting the -ludes) is written mainly in one of the twelve tones of the chromatic scale following Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis, which ranks the notes in increasing order of dissonance, based on C.
Now that these details are out of the way, let’s talk about the music itself. “Prelude I” is a delectable overture to the album: the interplay of the different sections of the orchestra and the themes introduced – later fully explored -, are an absolute joy to listen to. It is soft and dreamlike, only rarely will it aim to disconcert, rather lowering you progressively into a water-filled dream pod, where you can focus on the music and nothing else. It also quite ingeniously ends with the beginning of the following song, “Euclid”. In this song, the 6/8 guitar lead is backed by the whole band in 4/4 and, instead of adding four times after the fourth repetition as a way to resolve it with the rest of the band and start the polymetre anew, they keep on digressing and never really come back together. That’s only one example of a cool compositional trick that you can add to your own palette if you so wish, but also demonstrates the quantum entanglement between the concept and the music. The song’s lyrics state:
A pair of parallel lines never intersect, X, Y, Z
Stretching, spreading into the vast, infinite span of space
Traveling along one of these planes
A straight line sees many things
Always marching onward towards the end of all time
[...] Will never meet, will never cross
Will never know of the others existence
Alone in their universe
The 4/4 and 6/8 lines start at the same point, but never intersect again. Of course, the lyrics aren’t about the music underneath, but the fact that they can apply to it as well is the mark of real intellectual composition; the song would indeed lose something if the lyrics or the music was changed. I won’t go into the details of every song on the album; if I were to, it’d be a 300-page thesis. This was only one example of fine songwriting, and there are countless others throughout the album. If you stumble across one, post it here below and maybe our comments section will become a compendium of the idiosyncrasies of Metamorphosis.
If you look at both sides of the album, there’s immediately something different: song length. When we exclude the preludes and postludes, the average duration of the songs on the second disc is almost a full two minutes longer (7:02 against 5:19). This is a subtle hint at more progressive, or more fully fledged and developed song ideas. Indeed, while the first side is heavier, angrier perhaps, the other one sounds more reflective, thoughtful. Could that mean there is also, integrated to the music somehow, the five stages of grief – namely denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance? At this point, this wouldn’t surprise me. Moreover, this sides contain some not-so-subtle references at their previous works. For example, in “Kronos”, there is this guitar part, upon which the song is built, that’s ripped straight from Dreamstate’s “The Fountain”, and supported with those lyrics: “as with my old friend, the fountain”. This was possibly my favourite song off of this album so it was quite pleasant to see it make an apparition here. Also, a guitar line in “Eulogy” seems to reference a vocal melody from “Bloom”, which is nice. This side also seems a bit more unleashed, crazy, as in the beginning lines of “Summit” and the whole of “Kafka”, which are just prog, each in a more Gentle Giant and neoclassical manner.
Now, let’s talk a bit about the musicians themselves. Considering they are all new members, except the guitarist and founder Jeremey Poparad, they integrated quite well and there’s no striking difference in the sound, except in the vocal department. I’ve got to say I preferred Sandra Kung’s delivery on Dreamstate over both Brain Songs’ Kelsey Edington and Metamorphosis’ Amanda Rankin. I won’t say much because I’m no singer myself, and know very little about vocal technique and vocabulary. However, I think she truly shines on tracks like “Keepsakes” where her softer, falsetto voice is at the forefront. On the contrary, on harsher songs like “Suspicions”, I find her gritty voice to be uneven and unconvincing. That might be due to a lack of practice of the technique, or maybe it’s an inherent feature of one’s vocal tract – like I said, I don’t know much, and these are only my thoughts on it. This minor detail didn’t prevent me from appreciating the music as a whole, as there are only a few places where it is more apparent to me. The other members – bass, guitars, drums, keyboards, as well as the whole orchestra -, all do justice to the compositions with adequate tone and musicianship. I’d like to underline the unconventional use of the 9-string guitar on the album, where “conventional” nowadays unfortunately means an overuse of the low register for breakdowns on open strings and palm-muted tritone chugs. Here, it serves to support the bass in unison with distortion in heavier moments, and as a way to play extended chords on lighter ones. I just like to see an instrument being exploited to its full potential instead of being featured as a gimmick.
As a final word, Metamorphosis is an intricate and elaborate album, heavy with the sheer amount of thoughts put into its composition. You’re treated with almost two hours of jazz- and classical music-influenced progressive rock that sometimes turns a bit metallic. It’s truly a wonderful album, where each song has its own personality but still remains under the wings of its overarching thematics and keep a certain sense of familiarity throughout. I’ve been waiting for this album for a while, and have not been disappointed the slightest despite my high expectations. I believe that anyone who likes even a bit of rock, prog, jazz or classical music will enjoy Metamorphosis, a stellar album indeed.
A press copy of the album was provided for this review.
Special thanks to Jeremey Poparad for his invaluable insight on the inner processes underlying the album.

Dæv Tremblay

No dejen de escuchar este gran álbum, ya saben donde encontrarlo... y cualquier cosa aquí tienen su espacio en Bandcamp...