Short Reviews [The Ancestry Program - 2023 - "Of Silent Mammalia Part 2"]

Here we have the third album from German neo-prog outfit The Ancestry Program, and as can be seen from the title this is the second part of a concept (interestingly, and somewhat unusually, the album cover is a direct continuation of the last one). This was originally planned to be released in Autumn of 2022, but decisions were made to undertake further work on the arrangements and production and to bring in additional instrumentation, all of which meant the release was delayed to July 2023. There have been some slight changes in the group as well, with the departure of bassist Frank Thumbach (replaced by Marco Osmajic) and the arrival of an additional guitarist in Mike Vogimeier, with the rest of the line-up still Andy Lind (drums, backing vocals), Mani Gruber (guitar, backing vocals), Ben Knabe (lead vocals, lap steel guitar) and Thomas Burlefinger (keyboards, backing vocals). The loose concept of the album is that a baleen whale decides he needs to save the planet as no other species seems willing to do so, which is an interesting twist (I personally always thought it would be the dolphins). Musically this is incredibly complex, with considerable layers, and it is certainly helpful to have the lyrics available in the booklet which comes with this nice double digipak. The music is quite theatrical in that one never knows what is going to happen next, bringing in elements from many different sub genres, but always being truly progressive. Consequently they never really sound like anyone else in the scene, although due to their nature one could argue that Gandalf’s Fist have had an impact, and the same with Clive Nolan. Ben has a wonderful vocal style, oozing confidence in his performance, but he is not credited as composer on any of the songs which have been written mostly by Andy Lind or Thomas Burlefinger with none of them indicated as being group compositions. The use of saxophone and cello on some songs provides additional depth while the arrangements are hugely complex and complicated, and I do find myself wondering how this compares to the first half this story. This is an album which does take time to listen to, as there is a great deal going on and it is not as immediate as some with the danger that some of the elements could pass the listener by. I actually didn’t hear the snippet of Churchill dialogue the first time through, as one needs to get inside the music to fully understand everything which is going on and that can take some time. It definitely needs to be listened to on headphones so all the little nuances and flourishes can be heard, and even if one has not heard the first part of this set (like me), there is still a great deal here to enjoy.