With such expectations one is bound to be a little disappointed with the outcome. However, the album did have its share of pro and cons. Honestly, if one is to go from beginning to the end, there is a drastic if not unsuspected change in the theme and ideology. The second half was definitely more mature and personalized as compared to the first 5 songs, which were rather vague and uninteresting. Secondly, the album and song names just seemed to surpass me. For example, one would find it rather perplexing to figure out what "Liberty" for "Entropy" exactly means? This characteristic terminology of the band is evident in song names such as COVAH and PARALIPOMENA which frankly would not make much sense to me or anyone for that matter.
Coming right down to the songs, the influence of bands likes PINK FLYOD, DREAM THEATER and PORCUPINE TREE is clearly manifest in their songs. The notable influence of DREAM THEATER like ambience and Floyd-ish approach cannot be disregarded under any circumstance. Also one should consider the production aspect of the album which is very professional and unlike any band of India I have come across. Anyways, the song (AN ODE TO A) SILENT LOVER had a very calm, semi-orient intro which was rather pleasing and came as a surprising twist. The effects were superb and the song continued on to be a pretty decent number, but rarely did it try to present something new or break apart from the stereotyped Soft Rock genre. Next in line to impress me was the song BENT which was almost solely piano based except for the essential strings towards the end. The vocals harmonies and range were quite impressive, and the vocals were peculiarly understandable as opposed to many other songs in which not a single word could be made out clearly. Overall, some parts of the song were just extra ordinary. Lovely melodies coupled with a voice which could not have been more perfect for the song, the best song on their album according to me. ONE SONG FOR DYSTOPIA amazed me more intellectually rather than musically. Band's usually prefer not to blend their music with a strong intellectually based theme as to most it might hamper their originality and music writing capabilities. However this Anti- Utopian theme DARK PROJECT applied to their song has definitely worked in their favour to uplift the song from mediocrity. Lastly the song LIBERTY & ENTROPY with its simple but intense guitar arpeggio through the song sounded beautiful along with the falsettos. However, the vocals were so unclear and fuzzy that I couldn’t even make out a single word and so the song ended up having a pretty average effect on me. I guess that could have been improved with more vocal clarity.
In the end I guess the album falsettos couldn’t present something new or different that would make it more appealing to the audience. The band seems to be caught up in the same, stereotyped Soft Rock genre where hundreds of bands exist without having much effect to the listeners around them. The production of the songs which were very professional managed to strengthen their songs, but could not give it the finish great songs possess. The band is presumably still in its early stages, and it might take them some time to transcend that and develop into a popular full-fledged band.
Bottom Line
LIBERTY & ENTROPY is an album meant for a diverse, general audience that prefers to move to the beats of a fundamentally Soft Rock sound. Some songs are definitely worth listening to and their music definitely has its share of melodies that will appeal to a large populace.
