The
Irish quartet of Parhelia comes to
add their name to the growing list
of post rock bands from unexpected
countries. It has been a long time
since I listened to a band from Ireland
and I admit that "Oceans Apart"
was a very pleasant surprise. The
band tries to mix post rock with progressive
rock. Personally I don't see it happening
in the five tracks of their second
mCD, but their intentions are clearly
read. What they want to do is to detach
their sound from this flowing ambience
of the post rock scene by being strictly
guitar oriented. Without being something
ground-breaking Parhelia manage to
release a very sympathetic mCD, with
very good tracks, like "Lights
in the Distance" and "Storm
Warning" (absolutely great track).
The song-writing is very good and
avoids the common formulas. Even in
times you think that a song is leaded
to a swarm of repetitiveness and boringness
they shift direction, introduce new
melodies and finally bring salvation.
"Oceans Apart" is well produced
by Neil Calderwood and packaged in
a beautiful and moody digi-pack. The
question for Parhelia is if they can
test their powers with something more
advanced and demanding. A full length
album raises new challenges, which
are increased by their musical style.
Though they address to a very specific
audience, with quite clear characteristics
and orientation, they need to find
out if they can handle such pressure,
simply because the whole genre becomes
overloaded and many good bands are
out there claiming their share. But
until then, every fan of post rock
is suggested to purchase "Oceans
Apart" and meet this very promising
band. |