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Reviews

Closure in Moscow — Soft Hell
(Bird's Robe BRR081, 2023, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2023-12-20

Soft Hell Cover art

Closure in Moscow is a band that achieves a unique sound by combining progressive rock, emotional melodic rock, and electronic experimentation. They have a concise, accessible take on the general style of Coheed and Cambria and The Mars Volta, but occasionally veer off into trippy electronic sounds. It’s been quite a few years since their last release, Pink Lemonade (2014), and Soft Hell finds them moving further along their eccentric path, taking them a little closer to a more poppish sound, though still retaining some of the more intense proggy elements as well. When I encounter music that combines disparate styles in ways that seem jarring or confusing, as this does, I check myself and wonder if I’m letting my expectations (or prejudices) color my response. Intellectually, I want to believe that music is music, and all styles and genres are just arbitrary constructs without any real meaning. So on “Don Juan Triumphant” or the title track, when Closure in Moscow presents poppish, soulful melodies with smooth keyboard backing and funky rhythms, then jumps into a proggy section with complex guitar parts, is it just my own expectations that cause it to seem off-kilter? I note that there are other bands doing related hybrid styles — Sunset Mission comes to mind — so maybe this is one of the frontiers of progressive rock (in the sense of a direction that it’s progressing). The songs on Soft Hell are impeccably crafted and imaginatively arranged, and should be able to bridge the attention of listeners used to more commercial modern rock with those used to the more experimental side of things.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Closure in Moscow

More info
http://closureinmoscow.bandcamp.com/album/soft-hell

 

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