Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Hermetic Science — Deleria: A Chronicle of 2020
(Hermeticum #, 2023, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2023-12-19

Deleria: A Chronicle of 2020 Cover art

Dial up the wayback machine to the late 90s and one is likely to find some prog fans imbibing in the music of Ed Macan’s Hermetic Science, alongside all the rest of the interesting music of the times. At the time Macan was a music educator at College of the Redwoods in the far north of California, and had just released a scholarly tome titled Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture, which attempted to analyze the appeal of progressive rock from the 60s and 70s, through its music, lyrics, visuals, and more. At almost the same time, Macan released the first of many recordings with his band Hermetic Science, a triio formed a couple years earlier featuring himself on keyboards, piano, and mallet percussion, and students from both College of the Redwoods and Humboldt State University, often receiving academic credit for their work with the band. The first album (Ed Macan’s Hermetic Science) was followed up at roughly two year intervals by Prophesies (1999) and En Route (2001), the latter featuring Jason Hoopes (later of Jack o’ the Clock) on bass, though throughout this time a number of talented mucicians passed through the Hermetic Science ranks, and in 2006 a two-disc compilation was released titled Crash Course that contained most of the material on the first three albums, and then in 2008 a fourth album These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruins appeared. 2019 saw the release of the two disc set Out There Live 1996-2006, taken from concert performances during the band’s first ten years. I figured that was it, but here it is 2024 and we have at hand a brand new recording of Ed Macan compositions by a new cast of Hermetic Science, this time a concept album based on 2020, the year of the pandemic; the titles are simply “Deleria” parts I through IX (with additional subtitles), mostly instrumental (Part VIII features some distorted vocalizations, but no lyrics) symphonic rock pieces that reflect the Hermetic Science band as it is today (recordings are from June 2023). Since the pandemic is something most of us would like to forget, if one just ignores the titles and goes with the flow of the music, you’ll find this to be excellent and possibly the most original sounding of all Hermetic Science recordings to date. Macan features prominently on piano and all manner of electronic keyboards, not so much of the mallet percussion so prevalent in the group’s early days. The band is rounded out by Jeffrey Ruiz on bass guitar and vocal effects, and Travis Strong on drums. An outstanding album from beginning to end. If more Hermetic Science music is to come, hopefully we won’t have to wait fifteen years for it.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Hermetic Science

More info
http://www.n1m.com/hermeticscience/post/24303719-Hermetic-Sciences-first-new-studio-album-in-15-years-now-available

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.