THONK: Earth Vision Impact CD 2001 PROG similar to Anekdoten, Anglagard, Big Elf, Tangerine Dream, Yes. Check audio.

Description

A Swiss trio and another new band on Galileo, produced by PÃr Lindh no less. Similar to Anekdoten, Anglagard, Big Elf, Yes, but they add enough of their own ingredients: quite a bit of piano playing, overall darknes, strong themes, is great at evoking moods and varies from classically oriented pianoruns to loud brimming organs with thunderous percussion. Compared to recent debutantes, they certainly have a headstart: their own sound, good atmosphere building qualities, great themes, great variation with an album that shall delight fans of above mentioned bands. Soft and sad acoustic guitar lined with mellotron open Sulm, the short opener. Then the music turns for the darker and sinister ending with soft thunder on percussion. Thonkland is more up-beat, not just an intro. Heavy and dark organ, nicely audible bass and plenty of stop-and-go playing. The music has a strong groove, but also a very somber feel. People will be reminded of Anekdoten and the other Swedes here, but the music is quite heavy and with a strong focus on the rhythm section. After a minute or so we break into a percussive piano part with the bass playing melodic lead. At the end the music goes full blast. A great opening. Again heavy organ, now of the more brimming type, but the opening makes me think we move into the direction of say Tangerine Dream. The keyboard theme in the middle is a variation on the marvellous organ solo from Close To The Edge. Then the song becomes more rhythmic. Pure progressive rock with its root dug deep in both the old days, but rhythmically and sound wise in the here and now. In Pomme the music is rather playful here with repetitive runs. Moody piano runs take over now, building a kind of tension with loosely interjected percussion. Heavy keyboards and percussion open Insharp. A bit monotonous maybe, but it still grooves. Although the elements of the music are to my liking, there is something missing here. A certain sense to it all. This is more apparent on the panicky opening of Garden. Again heavy organ playing on this one. The song ends with a strong driving part. Ela has strong thematic material, the bass nicely humming along, percussive piano, a surprisingly lot of piano. Some classically oriented passages in here as well. The acoustic guitar playing is subtle and melodic. The final track has droing keyboard runs and a smooth guitar sound. Very repetive with a touch of abrasiveness, especially halfway with the double bass drum. Marvellous Anekdoten like material

Artist: Thonk
Title: Earth Vision Impact
Label: Galileo Records GR005
Length: 51 minutes
Year of release: 2001

Line up:
Marc Grassi – piano, keyboards
Fredy Schnyder – bass, guitar
Falvio Mezzodi – drums, percussion
1) Sulm 1.51
2) Thonkland 4.39
3) Square Root 5.44 www.staff.science.uu.nl/~hage0101/reviews/samples/earthvisionimpact2.mp3
4) Pomme 8.17
5) Insharp 6.23
6) Garden 8.29
7) Ela 8.14
8) Rak 7.47

Summary:
A Swiss trio and another new band on Galileo, produced by PÃr Lindh no less.

The music:
Soft and sad acoustic guitar lined with mellotron open Sulm, the short opener. Then the music turns for the darker and sinister ending with soft thunder on percussion. Thonkland is more up-beat, not just an intro. Heavy and dark organ, nicely audible bass and plenty of stop-and-go playing. The music has a strong groove, but also a very somber feel. People will be reminded of Anekdoten and the other Swedes here, but the music is quite heavy and with a strong focus on the rhythm section. After a minute or so we break into a percussive piano part with the bass playing melodic lead. At the end the music goes full blast. A great opening.
Again heavy organ, now of the more brimming type, but the opening makes me think we move into the direction of say Tangerine Dream. Again strong themes on this song, but the way the parts and themes are strung together seems rather arbitrary. The keyboard theme in the middle is a variation on the marvellous organ solo from Close To The Edge. Then the song becomes more rhythmic. Pure progressive rock with its root dug deep in both the old days, but rhythmically and sound wise in the here and now.

Quick percussive;y played piano opens Pomme. The keyboards that ring through the somewhat classical sounding piano remind me a bit of Firth Of Fifth (the sound). The music is rather playful here with repetitive runs. Moody piano runs take over now, building a kind of tension with loosely interjected percussion.

Heavy keyboards and percussion open Insharp. A bit monotonous maybe, but it still grooves. Although the elements of the music are to my liking, there is something missing here. A certain sense to it all. This is more apparent on the panicky opening of Garden. Again heavy organ playing on this one. The song ends with a strong driving part.

Ela has strong thematic material, the bass nicely humming along, percussive piano, a surprisingly lot of piano. Some classically oriented passages in here as well. The acoustic guitar playing is subtle and melodic.

The final track has droing keyboard runs and a smooth guitar sound. Very repetive with a touch of abrasiveness, especially halfway with the double bass drum. Marvellous Anekdoten like material.

Conclusion:
Anekdoten, Anglagard, Big Elf, Yes, these things I tended to hear on this album, but that is not all. These bands seem to have delivered some of the stylistic elements (in some cases a melody), but what the band does with it is something else again and they add enough of their own ingredients: quite a bit of piano playing, overall darknes, strong themes, is great at evoking moods and varies from classically oriented pianoruns to loud brimming organs with thunderous percussion. Just to give you an idea of course. And the band pulls it off…for the most part. “”Only”” for the most part because compositionwise I think the band can still gain strength. Some tracks already fulfill that promise, but in some cases, I thought the music lacked a certain sense. Compared to recent debutantes, they certainly have a headstart: their own sound, good atmosphere building qualities, great themes, great variation with an album that shall delight fans of above mentioned bands.