Recorded in Aug 2009, Clover is an epic collection of tracks consisting of 4 songs. We are offering this little EP for free via download. Fill out this form and we will email you a link to download this suite. The music is in mp3 format (320 kbs) and about 61 mb. It is recommended you have a high speed line to download.
We hope enjoy this Majestic offering.
Majestic – Arrival
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Tracklist: Gray (22:39), Wish (9:13), Glide (9:37), Arrival [Part 1 Echo Of Spheres, Part 2 Manifest, Part 3 Dawn] (36:04)
Minneapolis, Minnesota can be a cold place, especially in the winter. But Minneapolis and the progressive rock genre at large are feeling the creative heat emanating from the recording studio of Jeff Hamel in the form of Arrival, his third album release under the Majestic moniker.
And Majestic it is. Four tracks sprawl over a landscape of seventy-seven minutes, courtesy of Hamel on all the instrumentation and Jessica Rasche on lead vocals. Hamel provides some additional vocals as well.
Hamel has played guitar since the age of 14 and spent the mid eighties to mid nineties as guitarist for Detroit based progressive metal band Osmium. Hamel also spent some time studying recording technologies at the Record Institute of Detroit. He relocated to Minneapolis in 2004, with the Majestic project formed shortly thereafter. Regarding Ms Rasche, she has a broad background in choir and theatre and has been singing since the age of 9.
The four lengthy tracks are quite a lot to describe in a review, but let’s just say that if you give this CD a listen don’t be surprised to hear influences including Tangerine Dream, Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Pink Floyd, and even Ministry. Hamel’s versatility as a bassist, keyboard player, and guitarist is evident along with the vocal prowess of Jessica. The sonic sojourn of Arrival is not without a few bumps along the way, including some clumsy drum programming sounding like a demo that Trent Reznor left in the hopper, and ostensibly indigenous field recordings of nature sounds which are better suited for relaxation tapes.
The whole affair is produced well and could grow on you after a few listens. If you are the three minute single type of person, you probably won’t go for this CD.
The packaging of the CD is minimal, with the cover design showing a picture of an ascending flight of stairs leaving you to imagine where it leads. As is customary with releases on Russian label MALS, the outer sleeve jacket of the package is slightly oversized and may make it difficult for you to file the CD on your CD shelf.
There may be listeners out there with short attention spans or a lack of patience who cannot digest such lengthy pieces of music. Personally, I cannot think of any suggestions as room for improvement for this fine project.
Conclusion: 8.5 out of 10
