Album Reviews

Old English: (Progressive Rock) Debut EP

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Published on Thursday, May 10 2012 16:13

Written by Bluebird

With guitar and music influences such as Umphrey's McGee, Steve Vai, Guthrie Govan, Led Zeppelin, and The Grateful Dead, the song writers at Old English are working from a great foundation. This is an EP that builds a distinctive sound. It takes the broad range of progressive rock and gets to the point. Old English projects dedicated musicianship, weaving an openwork filigree that listeners can grab onto thread by thread. The whole of the music is also larger than the finer parts, but you will pick up something different each time you hear these songs.

~Bluebird

From Their Biography:

Old English is a Progressive rock band from Boston. The drummer from Green Line Inbound (GLi) Mike (Rare Breed), produced their new EP. They have played over 20 clubs in the Boston area, and this summer will be traveling to VT, PA and NY for festival dates. Most recently Old English was featured on The Local Music Show via Unregular Radio. Their sound has been billed as catchy, intertwining guitar lines wrapping around sexy bass lines - while the whole thing is glued together by huge drums.

Old English Band Members:

Pete Kendall - Guitar

Dale Bales - Bass

Russ Sternglass - Drums

Old English EP

Track by Track:

Worthy Advisory - The opening riffs of this track, with the full rounded notes and almost echo guitar sounds, reminded me of some of Eddie Van Halen's work in his instrumentals. The bass lines run just below the guitar which mixes into a great, thick listening experience.

December - This had a softer jazz like influence. It steps up and down the chords and there is some interesting techno fusion mid-song.

Particles - This track has vocals, yet there is still a commitment to the progressive instrumentals that the band has set out to record. The lyrics headline this in their theme and flow with the rest of the music. There was a contemporary Thom Yorke - Radiohead float to this song.

The Mammoth - This was probably my favorite of the EP. I've seen Yes twice, and while Old English doesn't exactly sound like Yes, they seem to have that play-album-rock-all-night spirit. Genesis is a band that enjoys this privilege too. It isn't easy to get away with playing long instrumentals for any band. Fans get bored or think there is self-indulgence at work. Old English pulls it off, though, with stop on a dime phrasing that breaks up the song, changes in tempo and the clusters of bass features. The mix is just right.

Summertime - Summertime has guitar work that is reminiscent of 90's rock, it starts off quiet and builds to a straight rock set with harmony vocals.

Old English keeps the tradition of progressive rock and respects the listener in bringing clearly thought out phrasing to the forefront, while providing an interesting experience. What I am enjoying about Old English, is that they are not fitting into any time period or category in music. Their reach seems to be above any dated trend. which will keep their work creative throughout their years of recording.

Visit the music of Old English through their website and band contacts below.

EP: oldenglishband.bandcamp.com

EP Promo Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9qKtLfOSEI

Website: http://www.reverbnation.com/oldenglishband