Sunday 19 January 2014

De Profundis (After Crying, 1996)

Coming from this Hungarian band's fourth studio album, "De Profundis", an eleven and half minutes suite divided in three movements, is one of their best achievements, IMHO. There's nothing derivative or trivial here and all the solutions are highly creative. Sure, the morn and down tempo mood of the song is somewhat linked to some of the greatest bands of the '70s (especially King Crimson, I'd say), but you'll hardly find in it a direct reference to any of their songs.

A really good album I highly recommend
...if you're not into metal prog, that's to say.

"De Profundis" is a really emotional track, featuring a classical and rich orchestration, based on keyboards and a killing touch of viola, violin, flute and bassoon. And when these acoustic instruments come in together, in the long instrumental section of the song, emotion rises up even more, sadness fades into sweetness and I actually touch the sky. Another special mention goes to the strong and sensitive vocal performance (in the band's native tongue, something I always like) adding an inner feeling to the big picture. In short, "De Profundis" is a precious experience for any prog lover. And for the rest of the world too.

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