PURE REASON REVOLUTION: Hammer And Anvil (PROGRESSIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

The British band Pure Reason Revolution come back to us barely a year and a half after the excellent "Amor Vincit Omnia" which had marked a turning point in the band's musical orientation, moving from a Floydian Progressive Rock to a much more electro-oriented style, while remaining in a melodic and evolutionary music.

With this new opus, Pure Reason Revolution has decided to continue the momentum of its predecessor, namely on a dynamic and electronic Progressive Rock of the most seductive! We thus find tracks with electronic guitars, percussions sometimes with synthetic effects, sometimes vibrating and natural, the whole supported by layers of keyboards and other electronic effects perfectly matching the vocals and the choruses with feminine/masculine duets.

Nevertheless, and this is the small (or rather big) difference with "Amor Vincit Omnia", Pure Reason Revolution preferred to insist here on the efficiency of its tracks by emphasizing the verse-chorus duet rather than persevering in the research and complexity of the music. Of course, the whole album isn't only composed of tracks with simplistic structures, as the last three tracks ("Blitzkrieg", "Open Insurrection" and "Armistice") show, which give pride of place to experimentation as well as emotions.

However, the melody is not absent from the rest of the album, and although it is lessened, the musical research and experimentation is still present on "Hammer And Anvil". Indeed, the clever mix of electronic music and Progressive Rock, allied to these songs and other choruses of which only Pure Reason Revolution has the secret, still produces as much effect ... However, the emphasis is well and truly put on the choruses often hammered on some music, which can become tiring or be a source of power and efficiency, but this is of course left to everyone's appreciation.

In the end, in spite of the slightly Pop side of some tracks due to the emphasis put on verse-chorus duets, it is undeniable that the recipe still works, with an unparalleled originality, catchy and fascinating sonorities, a transcendent melody, and a magic that, once again, works. - Official website

PURE REASON REVOLUTION

HAMMER AND ANVIL

SUPERBALL

PROGRESSIVE ROCK