Corvus Stone - Corvus Stone

Since reviewing BunChakeze and Odin of London back in 2010 and 2011, Colin Tench himself has been a pretty busy man lately as if he was filling in the shoes of David Gilmour as if he’s giving him the torch to carry the spirit of Pink Floyd and the obscure ‘70s Prog-Rock bands like Cressida and Beggars Opera and the big ones including Yes. With a dosage of Symphonic and Spacey atmospheric sounds, he’s teamed up with Pasi Koivu on keyboards, Petri Lemmy Lindstrom on Bass, and Robert Wolff on Drums and together they are this new project band called Corvus Stone.

Again, combining with the sounds of those three bands and blending in with some of the ‘80s Neo-Prog sounds of Marillion stirring in the ingredients and see what would come out of the experiments of the Wicked Queen had left into; their sole self-titled debut album is one of the most astonishing debuts to come out of 2012. Tench’s blend of the Floyd’s music carries on like carrying the Olympic torch to flame into the night and carrying the spirit of the music like no other.

He’s not trying to rip off their technique, but paying homage to the Floyd and at times Steve Hackett as well from his work with Genesis and his solo career as well that soothes and shines brightly like a diamond hidden beneath the sea and the sand waiting to be reborn along with Pasi’s atmospheric and sonic-sounding touches on the keyboard and the organ. When he plays the organ at times, it makes him feel like a conductor and telling the band members know when it’s the right time to stop and go and knowing when it’s time to change the time signature in the piece.

At times it sounds like a combination of TV Themes, Fusion, Futuristic, Horror, Soaring, and Gentle at times for the quartet to really have a grand old time to follow and decide where Pasi will take them on the Yellow brick road and not to mention to explore eight highlights from the album. With its heavy touches of guitar, organ, synth, and drums on Highway to Emptiness, it features some layered and eruptive rocking adventures like something that is crawling behind your back while Moron Season and Moustaches in Massachusetts are both fast-speeding bullet trains going 600 miles per hour and it feels like they could have written a video game score for Nintendo’s Mega Man back in 1987.

Then you have I’ll Leave It All Behind, which resembles the catchy Funk Rock sounds of one of those Cop series back in the ‘70s as if it was written for Starsky and Hutch as for the moody and spooky touches of Ice King, introduces more of a fantasy momentum and at times it feels New Age with Pasi going into the jungle with the Synths as he is following in the footsteps of Edgar Froese. But there are some gentle moments in there like the uplifting spirits on October Sad Song that really take Tench’s and Wolff’s moment to draw like a painting a sculpture while the 8-minute title track is where they go into a freak out mode.

With each of the members giving a chance to shine of synths going into space, drums pumping the beats, Tench’s guitar work, and the King Crimson stop-and-go movements until the spacey dooming classical finale. This isn’t a happy fairy tale, it’s more of a dystopian world gone wrong filled with the aftermath of what has happened to the world and yet its mind-boggling. But Cinema is sort of the calm after the storm with its acoustic/electric gentle lukewarm crisp set with guitar, and Pasi’s keyboard taking over as if he’s paying tribute to PFM’s early days.

It’s hard to believe it’s a music project that been in the wings since last year. And imaginatively, I hope they would do a film score and take the listener by surprise from what they have embarked on us. This debut, can really set the controls for the heart of real music.