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Review by Bill Binkelman This is my first exposure to the music of Tim McGowan (he has already released a good number of albums), a multi-instrumentalist who crafts music that sits somewhere in the landscape between progressive rock, prog fusion, and new age rock (for lack of a better term). On Kingdom, you'll hear some fairly aggressive/dramatic trap kit drums, thumping bass, and plenty of soaring electric guitar, besides a variety of piano and keyboards. However, there is also a strong undercurrent of melody, sometimes crossing over into quasi-Celtic or even neo-Renaissance era styles and rhythms. Just the same, these ten tunes can rock pretty hard (such as the opening title track) so don't come here expecting Nightnoise or Clannad. However, you also don't have to fear a slide over into prog metal territory either. Mostly what the album offers are songs that serve up accessible melodies, strong rock rhythms, yet evoking a variety of moods from the cheery "Morning Glory" (adorned with strings and harpsichord set against a drum kit rhythm track) to the dramatic quasi-new age "Distant Shores" (piano, timpani, guitar, and synth textures) to the rock ballad-ish "Old Days, Old Friends" and more. I prefer the moodier pieces here (which, unfortunately, are in the minority), such as "Whispering Wind" with its swirling synths and pulsing bass drum beats or "Ancient Echoes" which mixes an assortment of keyboards with piano and midtempo trap kit drums in a tune that has a slight air of melancholy to it, albeit undercut to some degree by a rock steady beat. I suppose that's my personal problem with music like this, i.e. the presence of over-amped (in my opinion) trap kit drums on almost every song just doesn't appeal to me as much as it used to, and the same goes for the abundant use of electric guitar. When McGowan cranks it up, as he does at the end of "The Long Journey Home" it's fittingly over the top, as the song title would suggest since the mood is one of reaching a voyage's conclusion. To be clear, it's not that the drums and guitar are "wrong," it's just that my taste has wandered away from this much "oomph" in instrumental music. In his favor, McGowan's music is well-crafted and not mundane, displaying creativity and solid technique. However, it's also not exactly subtle, which is probably intentional (I hope so). On his website, he refers to some of his music as being relaxing. I can't imagine anyone finding this relaxing, but if you enjoy electric guitars and pounding snares and bass drums, but don't want to hear some bombastic singer wailing the usual trite or obtuse lyrics, Kingdom is probably a safe bet, especially as a "driving around" album. One technical critique I will make is that, in my opinion, the sound is somewhat flat. I heard a pronounced lack of a clear high end, however with the presence of so many prog and rock elements in the music, this is also perhaps intentional. Still, as a result, the overall sound to me is a bit muddy and indistinct. Allowing for my subjective feelings about the genre of this CD, most of my negativity might not be shared with any listener who has a predilection for the musical components of this CD that I don't care for. Well, too each his own. |
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