So I’ve written before, that one of the things I like about Prog Rock is that the bands come from all over the world. The band that was the soundtrack for my ride down to the Garden State Parkway was the French band Delusion Squared. The album is their sophomore release appropriately titled II The band, formed in 2009, is a trio composed of lead vocalist and guitarist, Lorraine Young, guitarist, keyboard and drummer – Steven Francis and bassist/keyboardist – Emmanuel de Saint Meen. Their music can be classified as Crossover Prog (or Art Rock). If you are a novice to the world of progressive rock, you can go here, for the ProgArchives definition of Crossover Prog!
There are many moods within the album and there’s kind of a spacey feel to it, couple of the tracks start with either an acoustic guitar or piano, with the tempo building in the song and then comes the wailing guitars! Through it all comes the steadying vocals of Lorraine Young. In a review at Prog Archives Nighfly writes:
It’s very much a modern sounding prog album. Despite some heavy guitar work the album has quite a trippy vibe much of the time and is highly melodic and easily accessible. The keyboard work apart from piano is very much synth driven creating atmospheric soundscapes and textures for much of the time. Nevertheless the music has a warm feel aided by considerable use of acoustic guitar and the icing on the cake, the sweet and syrupy vocals of Lorraine Young. While the album has it’s heavier and more up tempo moments, opener Double Visions and Necrogenesis being prime examples it’s on the mellower and more reflective songs that Young’s gorgeous voice can really work its magic and it doesn’t get any better than the piano driven Veridical Paradox which is immediately followed by the equally compelling Revelation and Abduction. Read More
I know I caught myself checking out the song titles when “Faith Mission”, “Veridical Paradox” and “Unexpected Messiah” came on. The album has received an overall rating of 3.90 at Prog Archives making it an: Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection! So check it out!
Here’s “Veridical Paradox” from the band’s album II.