Apostles of Chaos "What's Inside?"

Greetings once again fellow progheads!  Thus far the  fall harvest from the prog garden is quite impressive--but I want to venture a bit further back at the moment.  This week the Concert Closet takes the search for all things prog to what can arguably be referred to as ground zero for the prog garden; England.  A common stop on the journey where many a great new prog band resides, this week I visit Apostle, a band recording for the Progressive Gears label.

For those of you darting your eyes back and forth from the title of this week's review to the last word in the paragraph above, allow me to explain...Apostles of Chaos released their album "What's Inside?" in March.  Since that time the seemingly obligatory personnel changes combined with the members of the band taking serious introspection into their music and the direction in which they want to take it lead to a bit of name change.  Simply put; chaos is out, Apostle is in.  However; in my never ending desire to keep things as complicated as possible, I titled the review as the album dictates.  Confused yet?  Hopefully your befuddlement will fade once the music is cranked up...

My immediate impulse is to let the music flow through the headphones starting with "Reaper."  There is a Dream Theater quality to the opening; a bit ominous, heavy, and foreboding.  The drums lay heavy across the entire piece and the guitars drive the point home.  Ryan's vocals are heavy enough to ride across that sound wave without losing any of their edge.  Apostle comes through on this song with a determination to hit you straight on, much the way Marillion creeps into your cerebellum throwing sound waves all over the place.

Traveling down the disc a bit I find another intriguing cut, "In Your Eyes."  There is a Spock's Beard quality to this piece and the canvas is splayed with brighter colors this time around.  Apostle shows off an ability to cover major ground in the prog garden as they go from grim darkness to a more melancholy stride flecked with top notes of Machines Dream and Violent Attitude If Noticed.

Liner Notes...Coming together in Yorkshire England back in 2017, the current line-up for Apostle is Ryan Hanson on vocals, Richard Lidster on guitar, Shaun "Tin Tin" Ellis on bass, Chris "Egg" Allen on keyboards, and Marcus Murray on drums.  Apostle draws influence from many facets of the prog era ranging from Led Zeppelin to Rush, blended with a shot of Marillion and Transatlantic, tossed with just a hint of The Strawbs to pique one's musical pallet.

Despite having as many albums as name changes on their resume, I expect a lot from this band in the future;  "What's Inside?" is a stellar first offering.  Apostle can rattle you with boisterous metal, soothe you with delicate piano, fascinate you with intricate guitar work, take you back with sounds reminiscent of prog giants past, and blaze a trail forward with music best described as their own.

For my last serving this week I went with the title cut.  Once more Apostle makes a bootleg turn across the prog garden as they show off an ability to draw from decades past to make music of the prog future.  Top notes that range from Deep Purple to Jethro Tull makes this band all the more desirable to even the casual listener...once you put the headphones on it's easy to fall into the abyss...

Immerse yourself further in Apostle at Apostle and keep up with the changes at FaceBook and Twitter @AOC_Bandpage_UK.  Music can be purchased on their website as well as the Progressive Gears site Progressive Gears.

Your ear worm this week is the song "Drifter."  This song has a bit of everything; strong lead in, heavy guitar/drum wallop, and melodic riff harking back to the 70's.  There are aromatics of Kansas rising from the headphones with this cut along with a touch of Kinetic Element.  Enjoy the ride and don't forget to focus...

                       

Once again fellow progheads we enter the final turn for the week.  Apostle turned out to be a vibrant multi-faceted band capable of cranking up the heat on one song while serenading you with the next.  This is the type of band I imagine Adrian Belew could take in an entirely new direction much as he did with Talking Heads.  Don't interpret that to mean I think Apostle needs a new axe man--I don't.  Richard does just fine and the band is in good hands...it's just one of the many crazy thoughts that enter my head as I wander the prog garden looking for the next new thing; "what would happen if..?"

As for me I am quite content with the line-up Apostle has put together.  So while I sit back and enjoy another run through the disc, the search for all things prog continues on...until next time...