11 January 2006

The long way

Listening to the first 15 minutes of the 50-minute Echolyn piece Mei, I was reminded of The Mars Volta's Frances the Mute--considering it to be, basically, one long piece. The Mars Volta has its roots, prog-wise, in what I could never warm up to: prog metal--even though their stuff is more Last Exit-styled free jazz. I like The Mars Volta because I like At the Drive-In, but no matter how technically accomplished bands like Dream Theater were, I can't really enjoy that style.

Anyways, I need to purchase Mei and Frances and give them a chance. A random reviewer of Mei threw around more references to Kansas/Yes/Genesis that would be polite, but I think Echolyn has their own style. That simple, forced heritage may be too unfair.

[ posted by sstrader on 11 January 2006 at 12:54:53 AM in Music ]