Kev Rowland This is the second full-length album from Munoch band Deafening Opera, following on from 2009’2 ‘Synesteria’. Although it is available through Bandcamp it is also available as a properly released CD, which is what I have. The first thing that really strikes the listener is just how polished this is, which both takes the edge off the heaviness but also provides additional emphasis where required. They describe themselves as a cross between Porcupine Tree and Riverside, but there are also plenty of elements of City Boy, 3rDegree and more in an album that is both restrained and in your face, full of Seventies influences yet very much for today, clean and simple yet complex and layered: all at the same time. The first time I played this it brought a smile to my face and each time I have listened to it that has just got bigger.

It is an album that brings in so many influences that different people will classify them in different ways: PA has them marked as ‘Heavy Prog’, MMA has them as ‘Hard Rock’ and my personal view is that they are Crossover with elements of Prog Metal. But really, who cares what we call it? In simplistic terms there are just two types of music, good and bad, and this definitely fall into the former. When there is a need for the music to crunch it does just that, but where it needs to be more restrained then yet again it hits the mark. This is a wonderful album, and if you want something that is polished and dynamic while packed full of great songs then this is for you. For more details visit their site at www.deafening-opera.de