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Prog Collective — Dark Encounters
(Purple Pyramid CLO5168, 2024, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2024-07-23

Dark Encounters Cover art

In the past, I’ve been quite negative about Prog Collective releases. I summed up my review of Worlds on Hold (2021) with “I just don’t get why such a thing as Worlds on Hold needs to exist. If you do, you’re welcome to listen to it as often as you like, just don’t foist it on me.” And for Seeking Peace (2023), I wrote, “This is prog by the numbers, assembled out of stock parts left over from other prog albums, and every note is in place, captured with the crystal clarity of modern production without a trace of grit or emotion.” So it’s understandable that the arrival of Dark Encounters was not greeted with enthusiasm in my house. Like all Prog Collective albums, it’s filled with talented musicians, and on first listen I was pleasantly surprised. “Not half bad,” would sum up the initial reaction. So instead of tossing it into the pile labeled Review This When You Want to Slag Something, I put it in the queue for further listening. My conclusion is that Dark Encounters is not “not half bad” at all — it’s actually not bad even a little. Billy Sherwood is the driving force behind the music, and the only musician to appear on every track, covering bass, guitar, keyboards, and/or drums, depending on who else is on board. In fact, there’s one track where Sherwood goes it completely alone. For most of the tracks, he’s joined by a single guest — his duo partners are Steve Stevens, Steve Morse, David Cross, Kasim Sultan, John Etheridge, Todd Sucherman, Joe Bouchard, Pat Mastelotto, and Chad Wackerman — and there are three tracks with two or more guests — Omar Hakim, Patrick Moraz, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, Marco Minnemann, Frank DiMino, Steve Hillage, and Gregg Bisonette. The majority of the tracks are instrumental and relatively concise. While there’s nothing innovative or groundbreaking, it’s all imaginative enough to maintain interest, and the concentration on instrumental tunes seems to have alleviated the over-reliance on meticulous arrangements. For example, “The 11th Hour” is basically a trippy background for John Etheridge to jam on, and it’s cool to hear him in a kind of space rock setting. I’m still skeptical about these kind of all-star projects, but in the case of Dark Encounters, the result is good enough to outweigh my reluctance.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): David Cross, Marco Minnemann, Pat Mastelotto, Todd Rundgren, Chad Wackerman, Rick Wakeman, Steve Hillage / System 7, Nektar, Patrick Moraz, Billy Sherwood, John Etheridge, Steve Morse, Prog Collective

More info
http://theprogcollective.bandcamp.com/album/dark-encounters

 

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