BUBBLEMATH - Edit Peptide (2017, USA)

Right from the start, it is clear to me that Edit Peptide, the new album by American band Bubblemath, represents some sort of an hommage to Gentle Giant. In fact, fans of the great an influential British band, but also of Echolyn and early Spock's Beard, should certainly be very enthusiastic about their new album Edit Peptide.

The album starts with a bang! with ‘’Routine Maintenance'', perhaps the most GG influenced piece of the album. It mixes great vocal harmonies with very dynamic music.

The next two tracks keep the momentum going with some excellent lead guitar soloing, emotional vocals, complex harmonies and very dynamic keyboards. In fact Bubblemath comes closer to what Echolyn used to do on Suffocating The Bloom.

The next track, ‘’A Void That I Can Depart To'' is, in my opinion the jewel of the album. It starts with a beautiful opening section that naturally evolves to melodic and intense parts (i.e. Echolyn's ''Shades'' and Spock’s Beard ‘’The Door’’) and finally ends in a very moving and peaceful way. This piece offers great instrumentation and vocals (like the rest of the album btw).

‘’Get a Lawn’’ is near to being a ballad but still gives us some quirky and intense vocals with some complex instrumentation. The ‘’Making Light of Traffic’s’’ calm and retro sounding first part almost actually feels like a real Gentle Giant song but quickly the band returns to intense instrumentation and dynamic harmonies. It’s a song that nearly has an ''On Reflection'' moment and features killer saxophone and keyboard solos.

The last two songs continue in the same vein and end this very good album in great fashion

Those that like their melodic Prog to be busy and intense (somewhat of a paradox?), something that bands like Spock's Beard and Echolyn (even more so) have been giving us for nearly thirty years, should really get their hands on Edit Peptide by Bubblemath. Prognosis