The second album from this Japanese band.
Outer Limits is a quintet on this album with a lineup of violins, keyboards, guitars, bass, drums and vocals.
Some guest musicians has provided cello, violins and xtra vocals.
I reviewed their debut album, the 1985 album Misty Moon, ten days ago and really liked that one. Read my review here.
I immediate went onto some listening sessions of the one I am now reviewing and found that a challenge.
A Boy Playing The Magical Bugle Horn is a massive complex album with different layers. All of it in a different culture from mine too. The Japanese culture.
This forty-three minutes long album is what I believe is a concept album. A symphonic prog concept album. Yes, someone did that in 1985. Outer Limits may have been the only band releasing a symphonic prog concept album in 1985.
The music is pretty massive and very operatic at times. And the Japanese heritage and culture shines through every minute of this album. There is a lot of ELP and Yes here too. But this band has created their own soundscape and musical world.
The vocals is good and ditto for the violins and the keyboards. Those two instruments are dominating this operatic landscape together with the vocals. The music still feels organic and not at all forced or false plastic fantastic.
The result is a good album everyone into symphonic prog must check out. And that just for the challenge of it.
It is also a good album from a band which deserve a lot of respect. It is probably the best symphonic prog band from Japan.
3 points
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