Castle Mountain Moon is a German project from Cologne offering Neo Prog sounds with 80s reminiscences. The debut album “Six Tales Of Perception” was released on Jujly 23, 2024 and contains 7 tracks between 3 and 8 minutes long, in which several guests participate. The opener “Perception” is a three-minute intro of experimental electronic sounds, with a deep, repeated bass line and interweaving keyboard modulations. Electronic sounds also characterise the melodies of the following “Blue Sky Machine,” with layers of keyboards. The rhythm section is linear, the choral vocal parts interpret the lyrics with a retro touch, taking us back to the Neo Prog of the 80s. The instrumental section in the second part of the song is interesting, with keyboards and guitar in evidence, the most incisive and elaborate moment of the song. “Elephant” is the longest track on the album, reaching eight minutes in length and featuring a more energetic sound in the opening with well-constructed guitar riffs. Keyboards weave into the melodies and the rhythm section is also more incisive in the opener, while as the minutes pass, the track loses incisiveness. The instrumental parts are definitely an added value, enriched by tempo changes and more engaging passages with good keyboard work. Good ideas, which lose a little in the sung passages, but overall a fluent track, with the second part definitely more interesting. A pompous keyboard intro opens “Fly,” developing into an interesting instrumental passage with the synth in evidence in the first part. The references to classic Neo Prog sounds are evident, with the more melodic vocal parts counterbalancing the more elaborate and incisive instrumental passages. The keyboard interventions are positive, but overall the song loses incisiveness in the sung parts and in some instrumental passages that are a little weak. A guitar and keyboard intro characterises “To The Moon,” then developed more in the form of a ‘song,’ however long in duration, exceeding 6 minutes. A deep bass line gives body to the sound, while the guitar and keyboards develop the most interesting parts of the song with solo inserts in the middle section. The melodic vocal parts have 80s echoes, as does the whole sound of the piece, which ends with a pleasant interweaving of guitar and keyboards. “Who” is in my humble opinion the most interesting track so far, with a melodic intro where the vocals and acoustic guitar accompany us towards a more punchy and well constructed Prog theme. Interesting are the long instrumental textures that enhance the band’s ideas with good keyboard and guitar cues. Definitely to my taste, this is the most incisive track on the album. The album ends with “Suddenly,” characterised by dreamy atmospheres of guitar and piano in the intro, over which a warm vocal enters. A symphonic track, developed in a musical crescendo that in the finale gives us a good cue of keyboards to which the rhythm section is added, increasing in intensity as the minutes go by. A listen that at times shows good ideas but in some passages loses incisiveness, weakening the sound. The tracklist ends on a crescendo with the last two songs, which in my humble opinion are the best of the album, especially ‘Who.’ The keyboard and guitar cues in the instrumental sections should be better supported by the rest of the songs, which are weaker in the vocal parts and some of the changes are a bit scattered. My criticism is meant in a constructive sense, surely with a few adjustments the band can offer more incisive and engaging listening in the future.
Tracklist
01. Perception (03:09)
02. Blue Sky Machine (06:38)
03. Elephant (08:00)
04. Fly (07:21)
05. To The Moon (06:56)
06. Who (05:24)
07. Suddenly (07:54)
Lineup
Dirk / Vocals, Guitar and Bass
Ropp / Keyboards
Guests:
Gerry / Drums
Pio / Cello
Johanna / Trombone
