Detailed Reviews [Victor Go - 2021 - "Tales from McIntyre Lake"]

Prolusion. Ukraine artist VICTOR GO has been an active creator of music as a solo artist at least since 2017, and in 2018 he released his first solo albums. "Tales From McIntyre Lake" is his fifth and most recent production, and was self released in the spring of 2021.

Analysis. The music of Victor Go is unmistakably atmospheric laden and in a carefully flowing manner at that. With layered keyboards as a defining trait, pulling out the neo-progressive rock description comes rather natural for this album as I regard it. Thant being said, there's a love and passion for classic era progressive rock that probably is a more defining inspiration for the material on this production, and presumably much closer to the heart of the creator than the cited neo-progressive rock. What I believe I hear throughout just about all the songs here are references to good, old Yes. From the tone, timbre and movement of the vocal lines to the dreamladen guitar soloing soaring on top of the keyboards where the tone and movement of the guitar both have a tendency to inspire associations towards Yes. Whenever a tighter rhythm guitar is present and combined with the keyboards, the manner in which they combine and often the tone and melody lines as well are additional details that to my mind at least are tips of the hat in that direction. The softer, keyboards driven atmospheric laden passages place the previous described details in a rather different context however, and what may or may not be world music tinged percussion details further adds an extra dimension to the proceedings. Some orchestral inspired keyboard surges and dramatic impact details further enrich and expand the landscapes explored, but in a much more subtle manner than this description may indicate. The totality remains inside a neo-propgressive context as I regard it though, even if it may well have at times liberal amounts of Yes-flavored seasoning. Often compelling and well executed, there are aspects of this production that will be detrimental for some however. Both the vocals and the guitars can have a sterile sound to them at times, like they have been subject to excessive studio treatment and in the vocals department the effect is similar to auto tune at times. Not in a massive way, but in a subtle manner. I also note that the rhythms sound programmed more often than not, which is a turn off for some music fans. Whether this is the case here or just an impression I can't really tell though, but at least the rhythm section tends to be more steady going and not all that expressive.

Conclusion. While this is an album that does have a few possible weak points, much depending on the subjective taste of the individual listener on certain technical aspects, all in all I find this to be a good production that should appeal to many with a taste for atmospheric laden progressive rock in general. Due to the associations I got from this album, my personal advice would be that fans of neo-progressive rock that also like and enjoy 80's era Yes to track down this production and give it a listen.

Progmessor: August 2021
The Rating Room