1. Sunrise
2. Lilith
3. Earthbound
4. Awakening
5. Vertigo
6. Casting Shadows
7. Adrift
8. Shimmer
9. Waive The Sales
10. By This River
11. Wrong Number (for al)
12. Balance
13. As Worlds They Rise & Fall
Total time: 1.1 hours
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As Worlds They Rise & Fall
D'arcana
Lemuria Music
For their sophomore effort’s leadoff track, progressive-rock group D’arcana moves through three distinct sections before ending with a reprise of the first. Over the course of “Sunrise,” they call to mind King Crimson’s industrial-melodic “Three of a Perfect Pair,” Pink Floyd’s jaunty “Free Four,” Anthony Phillips’ sentimental “Birdsong” and Thunderclap Newman’s insistent “Something in the Air” – all within the space of five minutes.
Which begs the question: If the band can incorporate multiple structures and cover a wide range of influences in a standard-length song, what can they do with a full-blown epic? The answer is the masterfully executed 24-minute title track, which pulls out all the stops and is bold enough to include slide guitar flavors during a few of the movements.
Another song, “Balance,” features some tastefully subtle pedal steel guitar. Not too many prog-rock groups have dared to tackle slide or pedal steel, so D’arcana earns major brownie points here.
Other highlights of the follow-up to their self-titled debut include the instrumental “Lilith,” with its fuzz-tone and acoustic guitars dancing around synth washes and mellotron-like fills; the folkish “Casting Shadows”; “Shimmer,” which salutes the guitar stylings of Steve Hackett and Steve Howe in the same breath; another instrumental, “Waive the Sales” (switch the “W” and “S” to find the title’s true inspiration); and the Charles Bukowski-recited-under-music “Wrong Number” (assimilating the poem “for Al–”).
external links
artist’s website
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