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Parallel or 90 Degrees - Afterlifecycle

Artist: Parallel or 90 Degrees
Title: Afterlifecycle
Label: Cyclops CYCL 060
Length(s): 70 minutes
Year(s) of release: 1997
Month of review: 10/1997

Line up

Graham Young - guitars
Sam Baine - keyboards, rhythm guitars, voice inserts
Andy Tillison - keyboards, electronic drums and guitars, voice
Jonathan Barrett - bass
Lee Duncan - drums

Tracks

Afterlifecycle
1) Introduction 1.13
2) Dead On A Car Park Floor Pt 1 5.33
3) Afterlife What? Pt 1 4.52
4) Gears Meshing With Dandelions 2.00
5) Dead On A Car Park Floor Pt 2 1.58
6) Moving Lights In A Tunnel 3.40
7) Afterlife What? Pt 2 2.36

I think therefore nothing
8) Music For Burglars 1.20
9) Cogito Ergo Zip 5.20
10) If We Fail To Respond 3.10
11) Run In Rings 6.20
12) Coming Up Roses 8.27

Afterlifecycle (conclusion)
13) Lifecycle 6.09
14) Flower King Of Flies (bonus, orig. By The Nice) 6.23
15) The Third Person (bonus) 10.47 just over 6 minutes)

Summary

With one album to date, The Corner of my Room, this is the first I've heard of this band. But no, GFDD in the booklet stands for Gold Frankincense and Disk Drive (GFDD) that recorded an album called Lifecycle some years ago. This album contained a good blend of progressive and alternative rock. The band also recorded a cover-album with Hammill and Van Der Graaf Generator material.

The music

The first large track is a multiparted one. Very quickly it is clear that the sound of the band hangs on Van Der Graaf Generator with powerful riffs, a heavy organ sound and some twists and turns that call that great band to mind. The vocals aren't very striking, but I like them. In this way Dead On A Car Park Floor (part 1) is a good track, with its feet firmly in Seventies Soil. In the next track, the peaceful Afterlife What? (part 1) the vocals are similar to Peter Hammill (but softly, not harsh). This slow track developes slowly with dark organ, soft acoustics into a searing guitar solo and after some more soft spots we come into the threatening Gears Meshing With Dandelions with a heavy drum and organ sound and dark riffs. During Moving Light In A Tunnel we've entered the rapids, with an electronic rock sound (Hawkwind) and varied percussion. The penultimate part of the track is Afterlife What? (part 2) that reintroduces the vocals (somewhat "uninterested" sounding like Pink Floyd) and a hopeful sounding guitarsolo although it ends on a dissonant note. A terrific track with nice recurring themes and good build up.

The next track is I Think Therefore Nothing. The first track, aptly titled Music For Burglars, is a dark but playful jazzy tune with lots of bass, while the follow-up Cogito Ergo Zip introduces Spanish guitar. This part is a little mellow with lots of things happening, but not too ostentatiously. The melody isn't too striking either. The closing part If We Fail To Respond sounds at first like Music For Burglars, but adds some things.

Run In Rings sounds more aggressive and has a fuller sound. In ways I'm reminded again of Peter Hammill, but also Roy Harper. In this track and also in the next I read a certain political engagement. A good passionate track. The next one up, Coming Up Roses sounds rather dated and is on the whole not very good track. In fact this dreamy track sounds rather familiar although I wouldn't know from where. Moody Blues maybe?

Afterlifecycle's Conclusion, Lifecycle, recalls all those ingredients that made Van Der Graaf Generator such a great band: passion and power. The vocals are harsher here and correspond more to PHs vocals with VDGG. This song can be found in a different, shorter (some noise has been added) version on GFDD's Lifecycle. A great track.

The first bonus track is Flower King of Flies by the Nice. A loud rocking bombastic track in the sixties vein drenched in organ. Fans of the Nice and ELP will love it.

The Third Person is with over ten minutes seemingly the longest track on the album (it is an edit of the song of the same name from their other album The Corner Of My Room). After a hectic opening we come to a recited vocal part alternating with a melodic and passionate part. Again the organ sound figures predominantly here and after a menacing intermezzo with all kinds of effects we return to the quieter vocals. Then the passionate part returns and the song ends after just yes six minutes filling the rest of the CD with silence. Still, it makes we want to look for that first album.

Conclusion

An album that leaves me in two minds. The long titletrack is great and Run In Rings is quite good as well, but much of what is in between is so-so (together some twenty minutes). The bonus tracks are relatively nice, so on the whole the balance falls to the right side for me, but next time I'll want something more tangible in the middle.
© Jurriaan Hage