Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Blind Ego: "Liquid"

Rating: RRRR
Label: Gentle Art Of Music
Review by Martien Koolen

Liquid is the third album of the German prog rock band Blind Ego, better known as the solo project of RPWL guitar picker par excellence Kalle Wallner.His previous album called Numb was released seven years ago and that one was a great album with some amazing and stunning guitar work by Wallner. The new album Liquid is again filled with breathtaking guitar riffs, hooks and solos but it is also a more diverse and versatile album than Numb. Liquid contains nine brand new tracks and they are a mix of prog rock, hard rock, metal,symphonic rock and pop rock with highlights Not Going Away and Never Escape The Storm, the two longest tracks of the album.

Wallner has called in the help of a couple of extraordinary musicians like: Ralf Schwager (bass guitar), Michael Schwager (drums) and three singers. On three songs you can hear Arno Menses (Subsignal), on one track you can hear Aaron Brooks (Simeone Soul Charger) and on four songs you can enjoy the voice of Erik Blomkvist (Seven Thorns and ex-Platitude). One of my favourites is also the instrumental track Quiet Anger, featuring heavy riffs, hooks, tempo changes and some excellent solos by Wallner. Not Going Away, as mentioned one of the highlights on Liquid, kicks off with melodic guitars and pounding drums; Dutch vocalist Menses delivers his best performance here, but it is the sheer brliliant guitar playing of Wallner that makes this song great. Never Escape The Storm is the longest song of the album and clocks just over eight minutes. It begins with semi-acoustic guitar picking before it eveolves into a melodic masterpiece with howling high guitar melodies and solos that will take your breath away. Blomkvist does a great vocal job here abd the melodies and the atmosphere of the song is sheer magic; play it as loud as you can!! Liquid is a wonderful album, better than Numb, and a must for RPWL fans, but also for fans of great melodic progressive rock music  with the guitar as the centerpoint of the music.Highly recommended.

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