BEYOND REALITY (E)

The Netherlands are one of the many countries with a solid historically established prog scene with many great bands such as Focus, Kayak, Finch, Trace, Ekseption, Alquin, Earth & Fire and Supersister. There was a limited second generation in the eighties with bands such as Egdon Heath, Taurus, Spectral Display and Van Otterdyke among others, but many more in the nineties and in the new millennium including those in the progressive metal and progressive gothic metal scene such as Lemur Voice, Within Temptation, After Forever, Sun Caged and also many new bands playing ‘genuine’ prog or symphonic rock like PTS, Nice Beaver, Casual Silence, Ricocher, Knight Area, For Absent Friends, Flamborough Head, Leap Day, Odyssice, Silhouette and many more. When Mangrove was founded in 1998 and released their first album, many insiders probably thought these four guys wouldn’t last to release a second album. How wrong they were! Almost a decade in the same line-up and album after album they got better, leading to extremely positive reviews from all over the world. In 2009 the band released their fourth studio album - including their mini-album debut Massive Hollowness. Listening to Beyond Reality in its entirety one can state that the band again made progress, especially the vocals and the production have improved. For me personally the vocals of drummer Joost Hagemeijer and guitarist Roland van der Horst were always in the way of rating the band above average, but Beyond Reality is the first album on which the vocal performances score above average. Although vocally still not my personal preference, this obstacle to enjoy Mangrove's music to the full, finally is out of the way.

The album starts with a subtle mellow opening, fully instrumental with acoustic guitar, electric guitar and a somewhat strange ‘organ’ sound. This prelude ends when the full band takes over and, still instrumental music, produces bombastic slow symphonic music in the vein of Galleon. The piano performs the main theme and softly singing, Van der Horst impresses with an emotional performance. Next piece in this long track is some music heavily influenced by Genesis with the same organ sounds as Tony Banks used in those days. One of the backing vocals seems a bit distorted. The harmonies are quite okay. Then Chris Jonker comes up with a nice synth solo accompanied by the other three band members. Van der Horst taking over the soloing in Steve Hackett style and Jonker's keyboards feature the Mellotron and other orchestral sounds. Nice hooks and melodies. In the last part some instrumental music probably inspired by works of Pink Floyd (guitars) and strangely enough maybe The Flower Kings (melodies and keys). A varied and mature composition indeed. In the first part of Time Will Tell you'll hear instrumental music as in Genesis ​A Trick Of The Tale, then Van der Horst sings a fairly up-tempo tune. Both vocally and instrumentally, memories of Kayak with singer Max Werner come to mind. The instrumental part highlighted by Jonker’s electric piano, reminds me of even older symphonic rock from the early seventies. Genesis meets Arena in the next instrumental passage, followed by a slow somewhat bluesy piece. A howling wind announces the next chapter of this epic track, being nothing less than a tasteful tribute to Pink Floyd's Meddle, while the last part could easily have been performed by Arena again. A mellow semi-acoustic piece is Love And Beyond: piano, acoustic guitar and just one singer. This is the ballad of the album and after an electric climax of the full band it fades away with acoustic instruments and a sole voice again. The best of Arena meets Kayak comes back in Reality Fades, starting with a church bell and haunting orchestral sounds after which the band performs a masterpiece of modern instrumental prog. The title track begins with Jonker’s piano solo, playing the main theme, then all the great prog bands seem to come together: elements of Genesis, Arena, Pink Floyd, Pendragon to name just a few. I don’t think I’ve heard Roland sing as emotional and slightly over the top as in this track, but it fits! The grand finale of this song is in the vein of Arena again: majestic, bombastic and pure joy. In Voyager at first the melodies remind me of Pendragon, IQ and Arena but the theme Jonker plays on the piano reminds me of Cold As Ice by Foreigner, so rock meets pop and definitely the less ‘symphonic’ part of the album, but nevertheless it still is quite a prog-like track with influences of Uriah Heep. Near the end, the cello sounds and the slow majestic music, followed by nice orchestral sounds give Roland van der Horst the opportunity to excel on his guitar once more and we have the best in progressive music, a feast for the ears.

Yes, Mangrove have delivered their best album yet and I have a feeling that the best is yet to come. Beyond Reality is another gem in the extensive Dutch prog history!