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When I ordered the album
“Cosmos and chaos” by Witsend from the Laser’s Edge some ten
years ago I could never have predicted that the same line-up
would be able to deliver a first class album like “The
allegory of light” a decade later. “Cosmos and chaos” had it’s
moments but mainly consisted of shorter solo tracks either by
guitarist Carl Baldassarre or by keyboardplayer Sam Giunta.
Few tracks were really group compositions so Witsend’s debut
album sounded like a mixture of ideas. Ten years certainly
enables people to grow and that’s exactly what you hear on
this new album. Without exageration but “The allegory of
light” does indeed contain all of the highlights one would
associate with the biggest names in the history of prog
whether it’s Yes or Genesis, Gentle Giant or King Crimson,
Zappa or OSI, Dream Theater or Spock’s Beard.
Maybe we’ll have to
regard the trio’s first album as kind of youthful
transgression whilst the new album is the result of
intellectual, skilled, professional musicians. I must admit I
have a little problem with the band’s name now as Syzygy kind
of reminds me of Ziggy Stardust but believe me this music has
very little to do with Bowie. Whilst Carl’s guitar often
sounds like Steve Howe it’s mainly Paul’s drum technique which
gets very close to that of Carl Palmer. So weaving all these
styles into one new musical venture automatically has you
think of all these big names whether vintage or contemporary.
Also from a vocal perspective the band does a good job holding
the middle between accessible AOR and interesting
singer/songwriter material. ‘Beggar’s tale’ is a nice example
of this focussing on the acoustic guitar which sounds crisp
and cristalclear whilst also delivering a slight Spanish feel.
The titletrack ‘Distant light’ is the kind of material which
really gives this release an extra boost when compared to a
lot of recent prog releases. This one really rocks and has all
the instruments perfectly working together as opposed to
seperately. There is a small section which uses synthesized
brass which of course I would have loved to be real brass but
maybe our trio wanted to prove they can do everything by
themselves so they can hit the road without having to drag
extra musicians around.
Whilst one could
already detect some medieval influences on Witsend’s album
these elements also pop up on “The allegory of light” although
they are more masked or should I say better embedded in the
arrangements ? Listen to ‘Zinjanthropus’ and you know what I
mean. I especially like the part where keyboards and guitar
play the same scales together prior to the piano getting a
solospot as if the storm lies down and a new day begins. Piano
and drums here often sound like authentic ELP during their
“Works” period. This part certainly contrasts enormously with
the guitardriven parts in ‘Industryopolis’ which once again
contains plenty of drumbreaks next to acoustic passages. We
talked about medieval elements and strangely enough these seem
to be apparent each time the acoustic guitar is in sight.
‘Forbidden’ is once again such an example where Carl almost
evokes the class and perfection of John Williams. To me it’s
that constant variation between soft acoustic material and
hard energetic stuff which makes listening to Syzygy such a
pleasure. The instrumental
‘Light speed’ holds the middle between furious fusion and Deep
Purple with a small wink in the direction of Keith More’s solo
album “Guitar stories”. That Deep Purple
link becomes even more clear when Hammond is inserted during
the final track ‘The journey of Myrrdin’. With it’s
seventeen minutes surely there are plenty of fantastic parts
on offer here. In fact I have to
admit that certain parts remind me of that other great
American band : Yoke Shire. Then again a small section in the
beginning of this lengthy track sounds very much like
contemporary Rick Wakeman. As you can see there are loads of
influences and elements but they all come out of the golden
book of progressive rock so you will love every single second
of this mouthwatering album. Again some medieval elements crop
up but they are once again performed on a synth. This is
certainly something the band has to look into for the future
as I’m convinced there are plenty of musicians out there who
want to help out as guests. Wouldn’t it be fab to hear real
flute, cello, violin, etc … on their next album ? And please
guys, don’t wait another ten years ! | 
Carl's
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Paul's
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Sam's
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