Detailed Reviews [Trespass - 2002 - "In Haze of Time"]

Prologue. "In Haze of Time" is the debut album by Trespass. Despite the provocative name of the band I am sure that the music of this keyboard trio has nothing whatsoever to do with Genesis's creation.

The Album. Trespass is the third Israeli band, whose ProGduction will be reviewed on these pages. And I have a strong desire to say at the outset that Trespass is not only the best Israeli band (which is beyond any question), but also one of the best among those contemporary bands that perform Classic Symphonic Art-Rock. Being inspired by the best works of ELP, these guys did not borrow anything from them. Furthermore, "In Haze of Time" can be regarded as an original album only generally, as there also are many of the band's own ideas, all of which are truly innovative and in many ways unique. For the most part, these innovations concern very complex stop-to-play movements, unusual time signatures, and vocals. The latter are here by all means excellent and truly amazing (lyrics are in English), though there are not that many vocal parts on the album. The compositional, arranging, and performing capabilities of this top-notch trio are undoubtedly on par with those of ELP in the first half of the 1970s. In my honest opinion, "In Haze of Time" is almost as great as "Brain Salad Surgery" and surpasses any of the other albums by ELP. Also, I've just remembered Cairo, an American band, which is not only inspired, but also highly influenced by ELP. These pseudo followers of Legend should take lessons from Trespass before writing their next album! In addition, Ars Nova is also not in the same class as Trespass. By the way, speaking of Trespass, I touch on the bands from a Classic Symphonic Art-Rock camp not randomly or for no reason. This is a fitting background for describing the music by this Israeli outfit. There is no place for any simplicity on "In Haze of Time". The album is filled with a highly complex and intricate (often, simply mind-blowing), yet, at the same time, very intriguing progressive music from the first to the last note. Here, I wrote "progressive music" just because of the framework of Classic Symphonic Progressive is a little too small for the music of Trespass. There are only three songs on this album, the stylistics of which, on the whole, conform to Classic Symphonic Art-Rock: In Haze of Time, City Light, and The Madhouse Blues (2, 4, & 7). The latter of them, however, along with symphonic textures, contains the elements of a wonderful Folk Rock and Blues feel. While each of the first two of them, apart from the Art-Rock arrangements, features also a couple of episodes that are much in the vein of Classical Music. The contents of all four of the remaining tracks, namely Creatures of the Night, Gate 15, Orpheus Suite, and Troya (1, 3, 5, & 6), just cannot be defined differently than a unique blend of Classical Academic Music and Classic Symphonic Art-Rock. Among these compositions only the album's opening track contains a few of the short vocal parts in the beginning and at the end. All three of the other pieces are entirely instrumental. Each of them, as well as Creatures of the Night, contains just a few repetitions, so the arrangements that are featured on them develop and progress constantly. It must be said that intensive and, often, high-speed interplay between highly virtuosi solos of synthesizer, organ, piano, lead and bass guitars, recorder, which sounds not unlike the flute, and of course, drums, kaleidoscopic changes of tone, tempo, and mood, etc, are quite typical for this album as a whole. Back to the best four pieces on the album, most of those parts of them that reveal a pure Classical Music were also performed up-tempo, though, and often without drums.

Summary. Among dozens of the conscious and instinctive propagandists of Classical Music ever existed in the history of Progressive Rock, Trespass, IMHO, are the most successful. They've mixed real classical textures with those of Symphonic Progressive so masterly that even those lovers of Classic Art-Rock, who are not that much into Classical Music or not into it at all, will undoubtedly get into it after comprehending "In Haze of Time". Which, in its turn, is inevitable for all of the 'classic' Prog-heads. Finally, it should be obvious to anyone that Trespass's debut album gets my highest recommendations.

VM. September 11, 2002