Customer Reviews

De Profundis

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you can find this particular recording by the Hungarian chamber-art rock sextet After Crying, do yourself a huge favour and pick it up. This album is nothing less than spectacular high art and is one of those works that requires repeated listens to fully appreciate. It relies more on subtle dissonances and quirky moodswings than tour-de-force, in-your-face theatrics...and as a result, After Crying's 'De Profundis' goes down in art/prog-rock history as a classic, in turn establishing the band's reputation alongside legendary Hungarian ensembles like Omega and Solaris...

Well After Crying is a fantastic, very versatile ensemble, because in every new album you can discover something special and absolutely interesting!! "De profundis" which begins with a "Gregorian mood", continues to explore the great possibilities of the synthesizers and introduces the listener to an incredible atmosphere, rich with a lot of colours and a dynamic sounds as well, both dark and "airy" (the track "Stalker" is a typical example).You can listen also to a couple of piano performances, in the vein of Keith Emerson, very well played and a very strong execution in the epic Manok Tanca as well; the rest is represented by some splendid mini-suites. It's true, the vocals are a bit difficult to take, but nevermind, the excellent suites they keep on playing skillfully are an universal language (I suggest another splendid album, the fifth by A triggering Myth, to all the After Crying fans: "Forgiving Eden" is the title, performed with a breathtaking 43 minutes-suite!)

I wish you a good listen

Superb stuff. Melodic but very classical approach.

3 1/2



Unlike so many other neo-prog units, AC offers something distinctly different, exercising a lengthy, if not epic set of classically trained chops.

Musically this outfit is really quite exceptional. These obviously classically trained musicians are uniquely creative and clever. There are times that the compositions sound like a marriage of Aaron Copeland and Frank Zappa. Unfortunately, the vocals are a bit difficult to take. Hungarian is a rather harsh language. If one doesn't understand Hungarian, listening to the vocalist offers little pleasure. As I sat listening to it my eight year old son said, "Dad, these guys are good when they just play their instruments but the singer sounds like moldy cow poop." There you have it. For foreign language avant garde or progressive music stick with the Italian's (Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, PFM, Le Orme, Museo Rosenbach, Locande Delle Fate, etc.) It's a shame, as After Crying are really quite brilliant otherwise...Simon