Abydos - Abydos

I was a little wary in approaching Andy Kuntz's rock opera solo project, as the rather naffly poetic lyrics and daydream subject matter (not to mention the silly long title) smelled malodorously like a cheap Ayreon knock-off gone even more pansy. Thus, I was very pleasantly surprised indeed to discover a pleasant and highly enjoyable fusion of prog rock and metal, no doubt inspired by Arjen Lucassen and many others, instead of a large slab of festering ...
...does come into it a bit.

Kuntz's voice (yes his name sounds a bit like a rude word, let's all grow up can we?) excels here even more than in his more well-known prog metal band Vanden Plas, his expressive and exciting wail perfectly capturing the rock opera feel, without rising too high to put off those unaccustomed to the more fantastical side of metal. His voice reminds me most of Khan from American regal metal band Kamelot, though ... more

I was a little wary in approaching Andy Kuntz's rock opera solo project, as the rather naffly poetic lyrics and daydream subject matter (not to mention the silly long title) smelled malodorously like a cheap Ayreon knock-off gone even more pansy. Thus, I was very pleasantly surprised indeed to discover a pleasant and highly enjoyable fusion of prog rock and metal, no doubt inspired by Arjen Lucassen and many others, instead of a large slab of festering cheese about a magical toyland and things. Though admittedly, that does come into it a bit.

Kuntz's voice (yes his name sounds a bit like a rude word, let's all grow up can we?) excels here even more than in his more well-known prog metal band Vanden Plas, his expressive and exciting wail perfectly capturing the rock opera feel, without rising too high to put off those unaccustomed to the more fantastical side of metal. His voice reminds me most of Khan from American regal metal band Kamelot, though restricted to the middle range, and on the whole the album tends to vary between Ayreon's self-style space metal (particularly the brilliant 'Into the Electric Castle' and 'The Human Equation' albums, though without the ensemble chorus) and the freeform instrumental side of Dream Theater around the 'Metropolis' era, though Kuntz's voice is far superior to the often piercing James LaBrie. The sound varies between softer rock and harder metal, the latter mainly expressed through simplistic down-tuned riffs, and made for one of the most enjoyable listening experiences I've had in a while, even if the vomit-inducing lyrics prevented me from ever being fully absorbed into Kuntz's neverworld.

1. The Inhabitants of His Diary
2. You Broke the Sun
3. Silence
4. Far Away from Heaven
5. Coppermoon (The Other Side)
6. Hyperion Sunset
7. God's Driftwood
8. Radio Earth
9. Abydos
10. Green's Guidance for a Strategy Adventure Game
11. Wild Flower Sky
12. A Boy Named Fly

The style shifts from soft to loud fairly often throughout this album, with a couple of songs standing out for being entirely one or the other, but there is a common sound running through them all to reinforce the idea of a concept album, and even better, all of the songs are very memorable; there isn't a single song that I would rate as less than 'very great' apart from the quite stupid robot/alien narrative of track ten, though that's forgivable as essentially a brief introduction to the next song. The introduction is a little surprising in that it starts in full swing without a fade-in or some kind of clichéd birdsong or baby wail that can usually be counted on showing up in a narrative album (in fact, there are no sound effects or distracting spoken word sections at any point in this album, relying entirely on the instruments and vocals), and after its brief spell comes the first great song, the album-defining 'You Broke the Sun.' Moving from an initially worrying Savatage-style piano ballad to a great mid-speed grooving song with nicely contrasting busy/loud and sparse/quiet sections, this could easily stand alone as a single and really sets up all the styles that will come into play later, including some pleasant acoustic guitar and limited synthesisers, though these will go seriously overboard in a great seventies way later on.

'Silence' begins one of the album's trends of heavier, metal-based songs with wild instrumental breaks and fantastic loud guitar solos, which also forms the basis of the storyline's other energetic moments in 'Hyperion Sunset,' 'God's Driftwood' and the penultimate 'Wild Flower Sky.' This is where the Dream Theater sound is most prominent, though it could more accurately be defined as a Vanden Plas sound, while also reminding me of Threshold. 'Far Away from Heaven' takes the bold step of basing itself almost entirely on an acoustic and piano ballad, but it is performed with such passion and a lack of the unconvincing, chart-seeking cheese that made the descent of bands like Savatage into rock opera outfits so embarrassing. It's actually really good, and I'd enjoy it even if it didn't feature the even better second half of dark sounding guitars and orchestration.

This eerie orchestral sound is picked up by the later 'Abydos,' which confines the rock instruments to the background in favour of showcasing the symphonic elements and making me wish they were a little more prevalent in the other songs, rather than simply providing subtle mood and depth. This latter song is also quite reminiscent of Ayreon's 'Evil Devolution' from 'Into the Electric Castle,' an album that may or may not have been in Kuntz's mind and CD player when he composed these songs, but certainly shares similarity with many of the songs, most prominently the unapologetically synthesiser-based 'Radio Earth' which smacks distinctly of one particular song off that Ayreon release that I can't quite put my finger on (one of the jolly, jangly acoustic ones). The dominant use of acoustic guitar also makes this song stand out as one of the most memorable on the album, as well as one of the most catchy, and may even provide some small consolation for Pink Floyd fans who wished that the jangly outro to their song 'Sheep' had been extended into a full song: this isn't exactly the answer, but comes close to realising it.

The only real problem with this album is that it experiences something of a minor downfall at the end, with the penultimate 'Wild Flower Sky' being a little too inconsistent and all over the place in uncomfortable contrast to the strong and simple earlier pieces, displaying all the signs of an over-ambitious, cocky concept album reaching its conclusion and allowing the storyline to take over (which is at its weakest here, with a truly sub-Ayreon computer scenario that beats Lucassen tenfold in terms of geekiness). The final song, the climactic 'A Boy Named Fly,' is a good piece but far too long at twelve minutes to be fully absorbed, though it doesn't demand the same attention of its listener as its predecessor. It's a fairly satisfying conclusion that deals with the singer's sincere thoughts and feelings rather than the escapism of the rest of the album, mainly the death of his father that apparently spurred the whole project on, and it only really suffers for coming so late in a reasonably lengthy album.

'The Little Boy's Heavy Mental Shadow Opera about the Inhabitants of His Diary,' to give it its full title, is another impressive work of ambitious metal meeting progressive rock, and should be greeted warmly by fans of Ayreon in particular, as well as liberal-minded fans of prog metal acts such as Dream Theater and Shadow Gallery. Its strength lies in the general sound, energy and emotion of the piece rather than the technicalities, as much of the instrumentation is fairly simplistic when thinned out and examined individually, being driven by a virtuoso vocal performance by Andy Kuntz - though there are some very nice and varied guitar solos. A few songs are a little overlong, particularly towards the end of the album, but not to the extent that they count against the work, and even the zaniest mad-cap instrumental breaks all seem to make some kind of sense. Maybe I was just really in the mood for this type of music today, but something about this album made me enjoy every second and hope that the singer releases something else of a similar style in the future, though it would be unfortunate if it took a family tragedy each time. 

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