You know, we’ve been kicking around the idea of doing an article on the various intersections of grunge and progressive music at large for the past couple of months. Math rock is certainly included in this, but progressive rock ultimately has a few more generations of strength behind it.
On a related note, it just so happens that a couple weeks ago we helped put out a visionary Sons of Venus single called “Living in Blood.” It’s the first single from the third album for the group, and now that Crisis to Crisis is finally out, that vision clearer than ever – and actually, it’s plenty prog, if you ask us, but a couple of other things as well.
Luckily for everyone, it doesn’t matter what you call it – Crisis to Crisis manages to entertain on a number of levels, starting with jangling opener “Dead Languages.” The song borders on vintage inspiration, but has an updated feel to it with modern sounding synths and strange, pronounced shifts towards the end as it all but eats its own tail. If you haven’t heard Sons of Venus before, there’s really no better starting place, so check it out below.
It’s true that a lot of the prog that comes to mind at first is King Crimson, obviously one of the biggest, most comprehensive bodies of progressive work out there. But an influence that seems to set Sons of Venus apart in the prog world that doesn’t come up quite as often these days is Genisis. The emphasis on songwriting and instrumental passages at softer dynamics is apparent here, and it’s actually quite welcome in an age where we are literally beating ourselves to death with the fastest riffs imaginable. Not that we’re going to stop any time soon, mind you, it’s just nice to take a break – but this is also where another influence of SoV rears it’s head, further designating the NY collective somewhat of an outlier when searching for contemporaries: grunge.
As “When Love Turns” and “World on Fire” cruise by in a surprisingly rosy manner, all of the sudden we’re reminded of Scott Weiland’s soul searching, post-Velvet Revolver, pre-Stone Temple Pilots reunion era.
This heavily David Bowie-influenced era of the STP frontman’s life is criminally overlooked, so to be reminded of this all of the sudden while trying to narrow down Crisis to Crisis’ progressive influences is, again, a breath of fresh air. As odd and unrelated as it sounds. In typical prog fashion, the band finally drops a somewhat ridiculous, but entirely ambitious ten-minute finale on us with “The Art of Confidence.” At this point though, it’s no surprise that they pull it off, so if you’re looking for something complex yet soothing and occasionally friendly to gen-x prog and subtle grunge nods, step right up.
Honestly, with all the hype going around this year about this and that, this one nearly slipped under our radar, so thanks to 1KPR for keeping us informed! Definitely expect us to reference these guys again once that article comes out on the intersection of grunge and prog, whenever that comes out! For now, check out the rest of the band’s discography on Bandcamp here and buy us a coffee here to keep the ship running at full speed, complete with spelling mistakes and the inadvertent creation of new words. It goes a long way. Coming up we’ve got Mountains, Space Corolla, MIRAKLER, and more – thanks for reading!