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Reviews

Citizen Cain — Raising the Stones
(Festival 201212D, 1997/2013, CD)

Raising the Stones Cover art

You know I don't really like this vocalist — his delivery lacks distinctiveness, it's like listening to Fish without feeling. When there are this many lyrics, you have to have a singer who can craft the feeling around the words, otherwise, as in this case, the delivery tends to be monotonous and dreary. And that’s really most of the problem I have with album, as the instrumentalists are a more talented set than usual for symphonic / neo-progressive. The first track "(Hells Greedy Children) Last Days of Cain," a 13-minute suite portrays this to an extreme, the verses and choruses are really dull and visionless, but as soon as the band is instrumental, they really put out the chops (OK the drummer is still neo-progressive defined, very straight and electronic-sounding). The music goes through a series of time and key changes, and the effect is almost like 90s Banco at times. I was expecting neo-progressive, the instrumental music here seems uncommonly sophisticated for this kind of music. It's really hard to like an album when you don't care for the vocalist, yet I find this to be one of the more interesting examples of music in this field.

by Mike McLatchey, Published 1998-07-01

From the ashes of SI Records, Xitizen Cain (formerly known as Citizen Cain) has returned after a 3-4 year absence with a new album. The band has slimmed down a lot since Somewhere But Yesterday too, consisting now of only vocalist Xyrus (formerly Cyrus) and not-to-be-outdone-in-the-name-change-department keyboardist Stewart (formerly Stuart) Bell. The album's liner notes don't give any indication of who plays what. Presumably, Xyrus handles the bass and vocal parts, Bell handles the keyboard chores, and they collectively program the drums and add the occasional guitar part. The music and lyrics are still Genesis-inspired neo-prog in the purest sense. Never at a loss for words, vocalist Xyrus is as much a novelist as a lyricist. They had to use 6-point font to fit all the words in the CD booklet! The music is constantly changing, and is often quite complex. Not surprisingly, the keyboards dominate the band's sound, and Bell uses more different keyboard sounds than you could shake a stick at. He seems to be fond of Eastern scales and modes on this one too. The compositions are very intricate and elaborate, and the lyrics should appeal to those who enjoy a story-telling approach. The guitar is disappointingly absent however — especially since it was so prominent on Somewhere. Nonetheless, xitizens Xyrus and Bell show that, when it comes to neo-prog, they can still raise...

by Mike Grimes, Published 1998-07-01

Filed under: Reissues, Issue 15, 2013 releases, 1997 recordings

Related artist(s): Citizen Cain / Xitizen Xain

 

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