Tuesday, May 13, 2014

By The Stone

Another Tuesday, another prog post...hello again fellow progheads!  Spring may be fighting to stay indoors this year, but I am ready to open the windows and crank it up!  Sun is hanging in the sky a little longer, grass is greening up nicely, birds are chirping the arrival of the day at 4:30am...time to embrace short sleeve season!  What better way to celebrate sunshine and rainbows than an adult dose of progressive metal? Welcome to the sounds of By The Stone.

Hailing from the Boston/Worcester music scene, By The Stone is a"...dark melodic progressive metal band." With traces of Tool, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Metallica, and a touch of Uriah Heep, By The Stone truly plays a cornucopia of progressive metal.  I haven't visited the dark world of prog for a while, so with a car ash tray full of quarters I traveled east on I-90--aka the Mass. Pike--anticipating a prog head thumping that might crack the rear view mirror...

Feeling the urge to do a bit of carbo-loading, I hit the buffet hard and fast this week, starting with a song called "Hubris."  The guitar/bass opening riff is quickly joined by the rest of the band and flows down a calm stream...but ultimately (as the title suggests) the song paints a dark image of arrogance and power. The drum hitting the interior of your skull with just enough force to allow the guitars to shred your ears a bit is an excellent touch.  Certainly a dark start and By The Stone has proven with this opening they are a talented group with more to offer than just loud noise...so far so good...

Going back for a second serving I find "Jericho."  A definite taste of Dream Theater here;  the opening takes me to "Scenes From A Memory."  By The Stone may reside in a far, dark corner of the prog garden but their roots run deep.  This song starts out slow and calculated yet you can feel the adrenaline rush building in the vocals while the guitars and drums are just chomping at the bit.  By The Stone has taken an alternate route with their interpretation of prog metal; my rear view mirror may not crack but at least the windows are
rattling...

Liner Notes...By The Stone started in 2004 with Jim Miller playing keyboards and vocals, Rob Miller on bass, and Sean Daudelin on drums.  Matt Murphy joined the party in 2006 playing guitar and adding to the vocals,  and the band known officially as [by the stone] was born.  Releasing their debut EP in December 2012, By The Stone hit the road for some  extensive touring throughout New England to support and promote a fine piece of vinyl.

My third selection from the menu this week is a song called "Without The Sun."  The signature darkness opens with pulsing drums that bounce off the inside of your head like WWE wrestlers throwing each other at the turnbuckles.  The vocals leap through the walls of sound intermittently, while guitars tie a rope around the entire piece. There is a tribal feel to the music that is energizing, eerie, and freeing all at once.  By The Stone has come at the metal side of prog through a much different lens...the view is dark and ominous at times while the sound can be simultaneously uplifting and gut wrenching.  The prog garden has extended another acre and planted a new crop...        

The clip posted here is the earlier reviewed "Hubris."  I thought this would make for an excellent crash course in discovering a different side of dark melodic progressive metal.  By The Stone states on their website they are "...attempting to write the latest chapter in a book that Pink Floyd started over 40 years ago."  While there is a flow to the story, the listener can detect subtle nuances in the storytelling indicative of a change in authorship...and that is not a bad thing.  Learn more about By The Stone on their website, http://www.bythestone.net/index.jsp




OK fellow progheads, let this one marinate a while.  By The Stone has brought a fresh new feel for metal prog to the genre--not so much pushing the envelope it is delivered in as expanding the boundaries it grows within.  There are metal prog bands that fall in love with the ear-splitting concept of noise for the sake of noise, and then there are prog bands that approach metal from an entirely different angle and shine a light in an area of your head previously unexplored.  Well, I am running out of toll money and I'm too far from home to walk...lucky for me the concert closet travels anywhere...until next week...
   
















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