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Thread: Beardfish

  1. #1
    Stainmaster Finch Platte's Avatar
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    Beardfish

    So I know there's been some chatter in here about them, and when I saw a couple of their discs at the LRS, I snagged the one hat also had a concert DVD for a respectable price. The disc is Mammoth and the bonus disc is a show they played in 2010.

    Not bad, they remind me of Flower Kings, with a better singer and a more boring drummer. Seriously, the drummer is capable, but needs to throw some awesome fills in there somewhere!

    If you want to hear it, let me know. I've also burned the DVD to CD, so there's the soundtrack to that as well.

    On its sixth album, the Swedish band Beardfish continues to purvey its own version of '70s-style progressive rock and heavy metal. The closest antecedent may be Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, but the musicians (who also sing in nearly unaccented English) also display a familiarity with a wide range of ‘70s performers. It's really a game of Spot the Influence, as, for example, the 15-minute "And the Stone Said: If I Could Speak" recalls Deep Purple early on with its organ sound, then suggests Pink Floyd as a saxophone comes in. "Green Waves" brings to mind the traditional heavy metal of Black Sabbath, while the instrumental "Akakabotu" has some of the feel of Frank Zappa's jazz-rock excursions. And so it goes, with here a passage that sounds like Procol Harum, there a riff echoing Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The pianist reveals his classical influences with the short interlude "Outside/Inside." The lyrics can be romantically inclined, but also appropriately bombastic, as when the stone, speaking in "And the Stone Said: If I Could Speak," declares, "I was here before you, and I'll still be here when you're gone." Beardfish might be saying the same thing to music fans on behalf of prog rock, and their adherence to the style has the same validity as that of, say, a Dixieland band still playing the music of the '20s in 2011.

  2. #2
    Musicaholic Forums Moderator ForeverAutumn's Avatar
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    I recently picked up Mammoth and it's good, but I really LOVE 2007's Sleeping in Traffic Part One. It's very quirky (kind of Zappa-ish at times) and not as heavy. Those are the only two Beardfish albums that I've heard.

    I hear that The Sane Day is excellent. I'll have to order that one at some point.

  3. #3
    3LB
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    cunning linguist 3LB's Avatar
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    I had Sane Day - traded it
    I have Sleeping In Traffic pt2 - for trade

    I loved Sleeping In Traffic pt.1, still listen to it, but never got into any of their other albums. There are a few musical similarities with The Flower Kings. While TFK leans more towards the symphonic prog of '70s prog, Beardfish has more of Zappa's tendencies towards jamming.They even do the "goofy lyrics" thing. But its all too much of the same thing, just like TFK, just like Kaipa, just like many other Swedish bred prog. The same goes for their metal scene, IMO. The only Swedish prog band that consistantly grabs my attention and holds it is Ritual and they're long over due for a new album.
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