Short Reviews [Intelligent Music Project IV - 2018 - "Sorcery Inside"]

This is my introduction to IMP, but apparently it is their fourth release. My understanding is that although it is a project, so not a touring band, there has been some consistency in line-ups. The music is composed by Bulgarian Milen Vrabevski, and once he received the demos then Simon Phillips formed an LA band to undertake the recording comprising himself and Earnest Tibbs for the rhythm section along with Jesse Siebenberg (guitars, steel guitar, vocals) and Dave Palmer (keyboards). Then to that were added the singers, namely Carl Sentance (Nazareth), Richard Grisman (River Hounds), John Payne (ex-Asia) and Joseph Williams (Toto) who between them shared all the lead and backing vocals. I must confess I hadn’t realised that Sentence was now in Nazareth, as to me he will always be the voice of Persian Risk, but perhaps I am just showing my age here as I doubt many people will have even have heard of them (although they may just have come across founding guitarist Phil Campbell who ended up in some other outfit). While that was all going on, there was another group of musicians also working on the album, this time in Bulgaria, led by Mile’s right-hand man (and musical co-producer of the album) Ivo Stefanov. He brought in a symphony orchestra with a horn section, conducted by Vlado Djambazov, and the Sofia Gospel Choir, conducted by Geri Balevska, and soloist – Steven Archikor. Added to that were Bisser Ivanov (guitars, mandolin), Bobby Kosatka and Lina Nikol (backing vocals, adlibs), along with Ivo Zvezdomirov (bass). The result is an American/Bulgarian album from the 21st century which sounds as if it had come straight from LA at the height of the melodic rock/AOR boom. It is lush, it is layered, and it is downright beautiful. In some ways it is reminiscent of late Seventies Chicago, but the main influence is ‘IV’ era Toto, and for anyone who was in their teens/early Twenties when that album came out will know just how incredible that is. It is sometimes hard to look back at albums from the past, and I must confess to rarely playing it these days, but I was at Uni when it was released, and it quickly became obligatory listening for all. I feel the same with this, as I find myself walking along and singing songs like “Night’s Calling”. The issue I often have with albums created as studio projects in that they can have no soul, no spark, no feeling of a common goal holding it all together, but that certainly isn’t the case here, and when the band turns it up a little as they do on “Slipping Away” all one can do is smile and reach both for the volume and ensuring the album is set to repeat as soon as it is over. This contains everything one can wish for in this style of music, with great musicianship, amazing vocals, wonderful hooks and songs that make the listener smile throughout. Of course all I have to do now is go back and discover the first three albums to see if they can possibly be of the same calibre, as this is very very special indeed. If melodic rock from the likes of Toto, Shooting Star and Journey are what get you interested, then this is simply essential.