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Beardfish - Mammoth

Rating

RIYL

Yes
King Crimson
Rush

Release Date

03/30/2011

Label

InsideOut Music

Tracklist

01. The Platform
02. And The Stone Said: If I Could Speak
03. Tightrope
04. Green Waves
05. Outside / Inside
06. Akakabotu
07. Without Saying Anything (feat. Ventriloquist)

Users Rating 1 rating	Your Rating Create an account or log in to rate this album
Recent Ratings
Rick Gebhardt

For those of you that love the early progressive bands ala Yes and King Crimson, you can count Beardfish in as an honorary member of the that group of forward thinking bands. Beardfish are a creative band that may be a little too steeped in that classic sound to be considered modern, but they do a hell of a job sounding like their influences.

The album starts of with “The Platform,” a quirky shifting song that ranges from prog-jams to the soft backbeat of the drums and excellent guitars. With most progressive bands you have to accept the fact that you are probably going to be in for 5+ minute songs, at the least. You'll need to truly invest in these songs if you want to get the most out of them. I will note that by the end of each track on Mammoth, I was kind of drained. Though the songs are interesting and I like the twists and turns, it is difficult to keep my full attention amidst all of the different styles you can get in one song. In no way does this make for a bad listen, it just means it needs to be digested more than once. For example, the second track “The Stone Said: If I Could Speak” has everything from a saxophone solo to mellotron lines. The next track, “Tightrope,” is a straight up melodic rock song, bare and mature. "Green Waves" follows up with a heavy intro akin to something maybe Cloudkicker would do. As the album continues we get elements of jazz and progressive rock with some more saxophone tossed back in for good measure. A stand out track is “Akakabotu,” a lyric-less piece that really shows the guys flexing their jazz influences.

Overall the album has to be listened to multiple times to get the full effect that the band was going for. As a progressive rock album, this is a good record with great instrumentation. Beardfish really know how to produce coherent songs, albeit sometimes a little too long for my personal taste, but the band can handle their instruments and put forth a very solid effort. Progressive fans, check this album out.

--Corey Mack