Released By : Progressive Promotions
Genre : Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, Art Rock
Links : http://www.myspace.com/ssttgd
Tracklist:
1. Prologue (A Man And The Book)
2. The Empty Room/The Realization
3. The Crying Child (1st Nail)
4. The Healing Wonder (2nd Nail)
5. The Dividing Water (3rd Nail)
6. The Last Supper (4th Nail)
7. The Eternal Abstinence (5th Nail)
8. The Deadly Crucifiction
9. The Green Door
10. Epilogue (A Bird And The Book)
Germany progressive rock group SEVEN STEPS TO THE GREEN door have been making some pretty big waves throughout the progressive music scene since they first appeared with their debut album THE PUZZLE back in 2006. While debut was pretty great in its own right, the 2008 follow-up STEP IN 2 MY WORLD was even better. Now three years later the band are about to release their most ambitious album yet, titled THE?BOOK.
The album comes as a 52 page thick media book that actually has a properly written story that is used as a dual approach with the music within to try and create a world for you, the listener to get totally lost in. Yes THE?BOOK is a concept album, and the story line within is actually pretty deep. Without spoiling it too much, the story is basically about a divine man who comes face to face with the fact that his god may not be as real as he would have thought and basically follows him through his journey to find a way back to his normally, questioning faith, happiness and life itself along the way. I really haven’t done the band justice with that small recollection but I can’t go any further into it because this is the sort of album that demands being discovered by yourself, where you can take the story how you see fit.
Musically these guys are on song right across this disc and they combine standard progressive rock with some progressive metal, some jazz-fusion, neo-prog and some real experimental art rock too. It can be a little demanding if you’re not totally focused on it, but if you have the time to sit alone with some headphones on and really concentrate THE?BOOK constantly rewards and surprises. I think the best way to approach this release is to read the story separately first, then let the music and lyrics fill in the gaps, but albums of this magnitude really do leave it to the listener to decide the best approach. I simply can’t find anything to fault with this album and am happy to recommend it to anybody that has an interest in any sort of progressive music or art rock, SEVEN STEPS TO THE GREEN DOOR have shown a lot of class this time around and I’d be very surprised if this album didn’t take off in a big way.
Written By ZeeZee
Rating : 9/10
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