Zierler
Esc
Vanity Music Group
2015
It’s rather unclear whether Zierler, the eponymous vehicle of Finn Zierler, the keyboard player behind (Beyond) Twilight is supposed to be a continuation of that band, but certainly there are quite a few parallels that can be drawn between the two projects musically, mostly in scope as well as in the execution that both tends to be quite far-fetched and exotic, utilizing some of the better musicians on the scene, right now, pushing the envelope on what progressive metal can be considered, in a similar, dark and foreboding way…
Actually it’s former Beyond Twilight vocalist Kelly Sundown Carpenter (Darkology, ex-Firewind, Outworld), along with bassist/vocalist Truls Haugen (Circus Maximus, Insense) who shoulder the vocals, with Finn on keyboards and orchestrations, guitarist Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry, Kaipa) on everything else and drummer extraordinaire Bobby Jarzombek (Fates Warning, Halford, Spastic Ink) providing the very tasteful and intricate rhythmical backbone...
“Esc” is quite dense and intense and while the main ideas of the songs are rather straightforward, most of the times, the amount of orchestration, the constant shifts in direction and changes in mood and tempo do boggle and sometimes can even tire slightly. The difference and dynamic between the 2 singers is what saves the day in more than a few circumstances. Kelly will come out as the more dynamic and sinister sounding of the two, not always going for extremities like he did on Outworld or even Darkology on occasion, but still proving quite the multifaceted vocal beast that also seems to be doing the occasional harmony. Truls, on the other hand, usually handles the clearer, more melodic parts sometimes dueting with Carpenter or doing harmonies for his parts and the two complement each other quite well with their performances covering the whole spectrum of human emotion...
The imposing seven minute “A New Beginning” not only marks a new beginning more than half a decade for Finn’s “projects” but easily encompasses most of what the album’s about. It contains a ton of ideas, has the wicked, dark atmosphere you’ve come to expect from him and really bombards your mind, as layer upon layer of music unfolds with Carpenter (mostly) covering and conveying a vast array of emotions…
I used to hate “Aggrezzor” when I first heard it (must have been a couple of years ago), not because it’s bad, because it ain’t. I mean the intro part is brilliant, but I hated how Truls was mixed on it, singing a very major, happy vocal line in the release he’s been mixed lower and now the said vocal that really sounded quite out of place, while still sticking out, doesn’t sound too annoying, but contrasts rather interestingly with Carpenter’s “aggressive” parts on the song… it’s still a majorly weird song with a symphonic side and in my mind sounds like a weird mashup of Messugah with Queen on acid…or a bit like Pain of Salvation did early on. It ain’t half bad, it can actually get pretty catchy on occasion. Can’t really decide how I feel about it…though.
“Darkness Delight” is pretty interesting… it’s several tones darker without really changing the style, Carpenter starts it off in his usual style, but even when Truls intersects, he sounds, unlike he usually does, a lot more sinister and they both take turns in the song, which shifts through darker and lighter parts, sometimes each repeating the verses of each other in a different way… with the result being probably the best song on the album…
“Dark to the Bone” is somewhat simpler and while Carpenter tries hard to make it work, it feels more like a soundtrack piece with vocals on top that has a nice enough chorus and a couple of nifty orchestrations and ideas and even a nice solo but ultimately it doesn’t manage to really resolve itself into something too interesting.
“Evil Spirit” initially seems possessed by a neoclassical spirit with some Messugah-ish growling and occasional Truls vocals and possibly a Sundown harmony. While it’s quite interesting and has a ton of good moments, it’s slightly overblown style and not really clear direction plagues it into being a ghost of the track it could have been, if it were, more focused. It sounds too much like a song that’s “conclusive”, a false coda if you will before “Married to the Cause” rekindles the fires of prog-hell with it’s really focused style. Did I say “focused”? Scrap that, unless your mind can focus on multiple crappy little melodies that are going on simultaneously, you’ll be stuck with being dumbfounded and awe struck at something that begins like Malmsteen, turns into Dimmu Borgir midway, then touches upon prog and electronic music momentarily only to go back to the symphonic madness and conclude with a zuper-fast trilling piano show off… really?! WTF! (In an almost good way!)
Ah, “No Chorus” is a song with, you guessed it, no chorus… it’s highly experimental and actually it cheats a bit, since it uses some nice hooks in certain verses that turn into bridges to a “no chorus” that never arrives, but repeats a couple of times throughout… It's downright weird as hell, but not really that bad… just a bit too much. Yeah, Zierler can play, he proves it time and again on this album as well as any other he’s released, but sometimes the whole result can be slightly overbearing.
“Rainheart” is interesting, as it goes from very fragile piano only parts to very intense, but hardly aggressive parts with I’m guessing only Carpenter doing a bit of a recital. Despite its duration and rather minimalist character, it’s quite interesting.
“You Can’t Fix Me No More” goes a bit back to the “beginning” with pretty much everything but the kitchen sink going into it’s descent into madness…
“Water” begins with Carpenter smoothly singing into some prog-jazzy part, reminiscent of what he did in say Epysode, sounding almost serene, before the song comes into an interlude where he gets progressively more agitated and starts to sound fiercer… what follows is a “beat-boxed” section (unclear who sings there) that is then mimicked by Finn and some intricate solos that are quite interesting… in a song that feels a bit rushed.
“Whispers”, the final “chapter” of “Esc”, begins with some church organ solo and a very sorrowful delivery by Carpenter, almost channelling a bit of a Freddie Mercury performance, with expert use of falsettos. Truls (I believe) intersects for a while before Carpenter assumes again the lead vocals over some pretty smooth melodies, prior to a solo, which is followed by escalating vocal parts into what seems to be a conclusion around the middle of the fifth minute, but if you thought that Finn would let go so easily, you’re truly mistaken. What follows is two minutes of odd choir and piano hitting in the place of an orchestra, until Carpenter finally brings the song to a close in a glorious way… or so you thought, because it still drags on for a few more seconds to end with a spoken part. (Maybe by Finn himself?)
“Esc” simply has a ton of things going on and while the musicality and quality of performances is without question, it really is at times too much to take at least in one go. It will probably grow on you over multiple listens, but it can still feel a little cumbersome. In a world of instant gratification and where a lot of people are still craving, 4/4 standard power metal, “Esc” feels like a bit of an oddity, the very talented and gifted offspring, the child prodigy that doesn’t always end up displaying its full potential for brilliance. Sometimes it is hindered by its own fledgling ambition while on other occasions, when in fact it displays moments of sheer genius, it fails to capitalize on them by trying too hard to impress. It’s still better than a lot of stuff out there, but sometimes less is more, which should be a valuable lesson for Finn to learn. Still, I’m sure that if a number of hardcore prog-nerds, stumble upon this, they might forget all about their “beloved” Floyd inspired prog bands, and get a bit of a pro(r)gasm...
Actually it’s former Beyond Twilight vocalist Kelly Sundown Carpenter (Darkology, ex-Firewind, Outworld), along with bassist/vocalist Truls Haugen (Circus Maximus, Insense) who shoulder the vocals, with Finn on keyboards and orchestrations, guitarist Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry, Kaipa) on everything else and drummer extraordinaire Bobby Jarzombek (Fates Warning, Halford, Spastic Ink) providing the very tasteful and intricate rhythmical backbone...
“Esc” is quite dense and intense and while the main ideas of the songs are rather straightforward, most of the times, the amount of orchestration, the constant shifts in direction and changes in mood and tempo do boggle and sometimes can even tire slightly. The difference and dynamic between the 2 singers is what saves the day in more than a few circumstances. Kelly will come out as the more dynamic and sinister sounding of the two, not always going for extremities like he did on Outworld or even Darkology on occasion, but still proving quite the multifaceted vocal beast that also seems to be doing the occasional harmony. Truls, on the other hand, usually handles the clearer, more melodic parts sometimes dueting with Carpenter or doing harmonies for his parts and the two complement each other quite well with their performances covering the whole spectrum of human emotion...
The imposing seven minute “A New Beginning” not only marks a new beginning more than half a decade for Finn’s “projects” but easily encompasses most of what the album’s about. It contains a ton of ideas, has the wicked, dark atmosphere you’ve come to expect from him and really bombards your mind, as layer upon layer of music unfolds with Carpenter (mostly) covering and conveying a vast array of emotions…
I used to hate “Aggrezzor” when I first heard it (must have been a couple of years ago), not because it’s bad, because it ain’t. I mean the intro part is brilliant, but I hated how Truls was mixed on it, singing a very major, happy vocal line in the release he’s been mixed lower and now the said vocal that really sounded quite out of place, while still sticking out, doesn’t sound too annoying, but contrasts rather interestingly with Carpenter’s “aggressive” parts on the song… it’s still a majorly weird song with a symphonic side and in my mind sounds like a weird mashup of Messugah with Queen on acid…or a bit like Pain of Salvation did early on. It ain’t half bad, it can actually get pretty catchy on occasion. Can’t really decide how I feel about it…though.
“Darkness Delight” is pretty interesting… it’s several tones darker without really changing the style, Carpenter starts it off in his usual style, but even when Truls intersects, he sounds, unlike he usually does, a lot more sinister and they both take turns in the song, which shifts through darker and lighter parts, sometimes each repeating the verses of each other in a different way… with the result being probably the best song on the album…
“Dark to the Bone” is somewhat simpler and while Carpenter tries hard to make it work, it feels more like a soundtrack piece with vocals on top that has a nice enough chorus and a couple of nifty orchestrations and ideas and even a nice solo but ultimately it doesn’t manage to really resolve itself into something too interesting.
“Evil Spirit” initially seems possessed by a neoclassical spirit with some Messugah-ish growling and occasional Truls vocals and possibly a Sundown harmony. While it’s quite interesting and has a ton of good moments, it’s slightly overblown style and not really clear direction plagues it into being a ghost of the track it could have been, if it were, more focused. It sounds too much like a song that’s “conclusive”, a false coda if you will before “Married to the Cause” rekindles the fires of prog-hell with it’s really focused style. Did I say “focused”? Scrap that, unless your mind can focus on multiple crappy little melodies that are going on simultaneously, you’ll be stuck with being dumbfounded and awe struck at something that begins like Malmsteen, turns into Dimmu Borgir midway, then touches upon prog and electronic music momentarily only to go back to the symphonic madness and conclude with a zuper-fast trilling piano show off… really?! WTF! (In an almost good way!)
Ah, “No Chorus” is a song with, you guessed it, no chorus… it’s highly experimental and actually it cheats a bit, since it uses some nice hooks in certain verses that turn into bridges to a “no chorus” that never arrives, but repeats a couple of times throughout… It's downright weird as hell, but not really that bad… just a bit too much. Yeah, Zierler can play, he proves it time and again on this album as well as any other he’s released, but sometimes the whole result can be slightly overbearing.
“Rainheart” is interesting, as it goes from very fragile piano only parts to very intense, but hardly aggressive parts with I’m guessing only Carpenter doing a bit of a recital. Despite its duration and rather minimalist character, it’s quite interesting.
“You Can’t Fix Me No More” goes a bit back to the “beginning” with pretty much everything but the kitchen sink going into it’s descent into madness…
“Water” begins with Carpenter smoothly singing into some prog-jazzy part, reminiscent of what he did in say Epysode, sounding almost serene, before the song comes into an interlude where he gets progressively more agitated and starts to sound fiercer… what follows is a “beat-boxed” section (unclear who sings there) that is then mimicked by Finn and some intricate solos that are quite interesting… in a song that feels a bit rushed.
“Whispers”, the final “chapter” of “Esc”, begins with some church organ solo and a very sorrowful delivery by Carpenter, almost channelling a bit of a Freddie Mercury performance, with expert use of falsettos. Truls (I believe) intersects for a while before Carpenter assumes again the lead vocals over some pretty smooth melodies, prior to a solo, which is followed by escalating vocal parts into what seems to be a conclusion around the middle of the fifth minute, but if you thought that Finn would let go so easily, you’re truly mistaken. What follows is two minutes of odd choir and piano hitting in the place of an orchestra, until Carpenter finally brings the song to a close in a glorious way… or so you thought, because it still drags on for a few more seconds to end with a spoken part. (Maybe by Finn himself?)
“Esc” simply has a ton of things going on and while the musicality and quality of performances is without question, it really is at times too much to take at least in one go. It will probably grow on you over multiple listens, but it can still feel a little cumbersome. In a world of instant gratification and where a lot of people are still craving, 4/4 standard power metal, “Esc” feels like a bit of an oddity, the very talented and gifted offspring, the child prodigy that doesn’t always end up displaying its full potential for brilliance. Sometimes it is hindered by its own fledgling ambition while on other occasions, when in fact it displays moments of sheer genius, it fails to capitalize on them by trying too hard to impress. It’s still better than a lot of stuff out there, but sometimes less is more, which should be a valuable lesson for Finn to learn. Still, I’m sure that if a number of hardcore prog-nerds, stumble upon this, they might forget all about their “beloved” Floyd inspired prog bands, and get a bit of a pro(r)gasm...