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Proloud - Rebuilding
The album opens with a short ‘effects’ track, Destruction – any ‘twin towers’ association is purely coincidental as both the concept and recording were finalised long before the tragic event. Now, I’m not what could be called an active fan of prog metal but after listening to the second track, Fickle, a few times I feel that maybe I have been missing out. It’s all there, fast and accurate playing, time changes and power melody – at times it reminds me of the heavy side of Manfred Man’s Earthband with the odd Sepultura interlude. Leave It To Nature is an altogether more melodic piece combining jazz and Latin rhythms whilst retaining a prog metal feel. Island Lake is reminiscent of the better works of Pendragon, delicate when necessary and heavy when necessary – and the speed; how many fingers and hands have these guys got? Shooting Star comes as a bit of a surprise (as shooting stars should) as it is an acoustic ballad with some thought provoking lyrics, nothing too profound but combined with the gentle melody sets the mind adrift. Gethsemane is a complex instrumental and though enjoyable, the drums don’t sound entirely right in the mix. Maybe the snare mic came adrift on this one. On Last Inhabited Planet a vocal style akin to Ronnie James Dio is adopted, but I’m afraid I found the first half of the track a little incohesive but it falls in place in the second half. To Be On Fire is wonderfully constructed melodic prog metal. Complex but enrapturing arrangements make this the star of the album, but that is just my opinion of course. The album finishes with the title track, Rebuilding, which is a reprise of the earlier Leave It To Nature but in this instance a gentle acoustic piece – the calm after the storm. Will prog metal fans like it? I asked fellow reviewer, Danny Mayo, this question and he said: “Overall the music is very technical and on a par with Dream Theater and Crimson Glory. The keyboards and guitars are the stadium rock type sound, which works well. Singer has a great voice with a wide range of the scale. The drums go on forever in typical prog metal style. To sum up, a pleasing effort, and one worth getting if you like DT and other bands in that ilk.” Prog metal fan or not, Rebuilding is well worth a listen. Jem Jedrzejewski "REBUILDING"
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Proloud
started life as a cover band in the late 80’s with the aim of playing the music
of their heroes, Dream Theater. After many line-up changes over the years, the
band settles down and in 1999 records Fickle, a three track demo which
was positively received by the Italian mainstream Metal magazines. With the
help of further exposure by way of a track on a compilation CD, a number of
record companies reveal their interest in the band but it is Sublime who
clinched the deal. Two years on, they release their debut album, Rebuilding
which is packaged in a gatefold ‘mini-LP’ style with a separate lyric booklet
and eight postcards with great original artwork on one side and lyrics for the
representative track on the other.