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Montage: Montage

Progressive Rock

3.0/5.0

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Secret Entertainment
Words by Craig Hartranft,  08.05.2014

Coming from Finland, Montage is a collection of friends who have been writing and performing together since high school. Citing influences like The Doors, Rush, Caravan, and Mastodon, they offer heavy rock with a notable progressive rock twist.

Montage: among the trees.

In one sense, Montage seems removed in time by 40 years. Their heavy rock can be marked by a psychedelic feel, lots of fuzz busting guitar riffs, but also fusion like licks Reborn Identity is a good example. They dabble with some organ here and there, giving them, once more, a Seventies feel as within Mammoth. The song lives up to it's name as it can be thick and thumping at times, only to offer, these short delicate jazzy parts.

Other songs can have a lighter feel, almost bouncy, like Shine and Misty High, likely the most accessible song, in the popular or commercial sense, here. But the best song here is likely the closing Strawberry Skies, simply because it sound the most progish and has one terrific, spirited, guitar solo. Finally, Montage offers two brief instrumentals, Other Voices and Devil's Whip, which are essentially guitarist Roni Seppanen displaying his gifted acoustic skills. These also are some of the best work here. I could pass on Trapeze as it was largely heavy and dull. One thing that caught my ear, and not so much in a good way, was Mikko Heino's vocals. He seemed pressed through some device, or perhaps simply against the guitar riffs, which made him sound scratchy and indiscernible. Often times, he wasn't all that appealing.

Excepting the two instrumentals and Strawberry Skies, and possibly Misty High, I had difficulty wrapping my head and ears around this work. Rather than finding it inherently interesting or simply putting me off, it mostly left me feeling indifferent. Nevertheless, the band does have some talent and promise.

Montage - Misty High

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Montage's debut album reveals music that's an eclectic mix of early heavy rock with prog and psychedelic nuances. Excepting a few songs, I was left feeling indifferent.

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Here's a fun fact about Swiss legends, Gotthard: their last 16 releases, excepting their debut album, went to number one in their home country, making them one of Switzerland's most successful acts and ... [ Read More ]