Opener "We Pay the Price" is catchy and nuanced with strong chord progressions and proggy keyboard timbres, while tracks like "Love for Sale" and "Illusion" increase the complexity a bit while still remaining completely accessible. What's most interesting to me is how these New Yorkers seem to capture the vibrant quirkiness of 1990s Brit pop acts like Blur and Oasis. Posted by Jordan Blum, SoT Staff Writer on 07:34:28Įlf Project's The Great Divide is certainly a refreshing take on both progressive rock and hooky pop songwriting, although the latter serves more to embellish the former than it does stand out on its own, I can definitely hear the Rush influence, too, (although I prefer vocalist Carl Schultz over Geddy Lee). It comes highly recommended, as once again the folks at 10T crank out another winner! The Great Divide is infectious from the start, one of those modern prog albums that just has so many feel good moments, upbeat arrangements, catchy hooks, and crisp instrumentation. The album closes with the poppy "Any Other Day", complete with shimmering vocal harmonies, thick bass lines, and soaring slide guitar.
"Heaven Above" continues on with the heaviness, and textured riffs and haunting keys permeate the moody "What I Believe". The band approaches prog metal on the heavy yet melodic "Reach Out", which features some great vocals from Schultz. Schultz' slippery bass grooves provide the intro to the exceptional "No More Monkey Business", a short instrumental that lets the band strut their stuff musically, complete with some nimble stick work from Wayne and layer upon layer of complex guitar riffs and patterns courtesy of Cappadozy. " Pull Me Under" is a perfect example, as musically it's quite adventurous with some nifty guitar work from Cappadozy, atmospheric keyboards, and more of those lovely Schultz bass lines, but the song contains some catchy melodies and a great chorus. In fact, the bands ability to create memorable songs cannot be overlooked, as sometimes progressive rock bands tend to overplay at the expense of the song, but not Elf Project. "Love For Sale" mixes prog with Def Leppard styled arena rock, with some heavier riffs and nice use of keyboards, while "Illusion" again screams '80s Rush, chock ful of catchy hooks and muscular arrangements. "The Sirens Call" is a remarkable song, again driven by Schultz and his thick bass grooves and vocals, with fantastic guitar riffs from Mike Cappadozy and Dave Wayne's rock solid drum patterns. Opening cut "We Pay the Price" busts out of the gate with thunderous bass lines, textured guitar riffs, atmospheric keys, and Carl Schultz' high pitched, melodic vocals.
I almost hate to bring up Rush so early in the review, but damn if the trio doesn't channel all those glorious sounds that the Canadians conjured up during the Moving Pictures, Signals, and Grace Under Pressure period. New York proggers Elf Project return with their latest collection of hard hitting and melodic rock titled The Great Divide.
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