The debut album from this band who was regarded to be too progressive to be regarded as progressive rock by many prog rock websites. I think the band should use that as their main marketing slogan. It certainly got me interested in this band. That and Ms Progmistress (Raffaella Berry) reviews of their two albums.
Herd Of Instinct comes from USA. Texas, if I am not wrong. And their music is really pushing the envelope a bit. Nothing revolutionary though. But they have adopted King Crimson's ethics and really gone for it. They are as progressive as a freight train at full speed. Their music is also as difficult to both grasp and follow as a freight train at full speed.
Their music is instrumental with some sampled female vocals also used as an instrument (Edit: The excellent Dido like vocals was actually done live by Kris Swenson, the vocalist in a band later morphing into this band.). Herd Of Instinct is a trio, a bass/drums/guitar power trio with a lot of hired in instruments. The list of additional instruments and computer programmes is too long to list here. Let's say that there is a lot of textures in their music.
The music is a bit bewildering though. But the music is also great throughout and it has drawn me in. Captivated me, in fact. There is only a handful of other bands who has done that before. King Crimson being one of them. In short; King Crimson is a great reference and fans of them will love Herd Of Instinct. That said, there is also a lot of post rock, avant-garde, heavy prog, prog metal, jazz and even some symph prog on this album too. Indeed, the music is too progressive to be regarded as progressive rock. That is this best label on this album.
This is a great album and a good pointer towards the future of the more progressive, envelope pushing spectrum of the music scene.
4 points
Their homepage
Thanks, Torodd. Bewildered is the general responce we get from our live shows. I'm humbled and honored to have your review of this album. --- Jason Spradlin
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