Phideaux (the band), playing live for a rare time. They had never performed live before 2007, as far as I know.

Track list

1. Micro Deathstar
2. The Doctrine of Eternal Ice (Part One)
3. Candybrain
4. Crumble
5. The Doctrine of Eternal Ice (Part Two)
6. Thank You For The Evil
7. A Wasteland Of Memories
8. Crumble
9. Formaldehyde
10. Microdeath Softstar

Genre

Progressive rock, art rock

Release

June 21, 2007

Label

Bloodfish Media

Background Information

Sorry to the regulars, the internship took away some of my time to listen to stuff, play and review music. This week, though, I’m pleasing myself by reviewing one of my favourite composers.

Phideaux Xavier is an American TV producer who began composing music in high school. In my brain, that would already ring a bell about pop music. Well I’d be proved real wrong by this man, who describes his own music as “psychedelic progressive Gothic rock.” His material really doesn’t stick to one formula, and every album is different in style, but not exactly in genres or quality.

There are many little interesting aspects about his band and him, being that they released an album that his musicians and him wrote, composed and recorded in a single day. That album would be ‘313′. Despite not being their best release (and the song Have you hugged your robot? strangely sounding like In the hall of the mountain king by Edvard Grieg), it’s an interesting disk that manages to prove the kind of musicianship you deal with when you get into Phideaux.

Doomsday Afternoon is Phideaux Xavier’s most recent album up to now, and the second release of a trilogy that began with The Great Leap, in 2006. It’s also certainly their most artistic album so far, a step above anything they released before, in my opinion.

The line-up is certainly impressive too, with about 9 main musician, 4 appearances from others, and 16 musicians for the orchestral parts of the song (mainly violins, violas, horns, cellos, etc.). Let’s go straight to the content.

My Opinion

This all begins with Micro Deathstar. The first time I listened to it, I was simply blown away by the surprise. I couldn’t have thought someone could have made music with arrangements that good in the last 20 years (hey hyperbole there!). Still, it hit me and I instantly fell in love with Phideaux’s music.

The progressive and near-classical sounds are mixed with a more actual feel, there’s a great flow and certainly a great ambiance to it all. It’s not too surprising, given Phideaux himself describes his album as “one long song cycle that has been broken into sections.” Well, he also said “Doomsday Afternoon is a pretentious and bloated concept album,” (unreliable source) but let’s get over this. It’s possibly the best track on the album in my opinion, which is a little sad because frankly, I don’t want to listen to the rest as much as this song. It could easily have been broken into 4 or 5 shorter tracks, but the transitions are flawless and you don’t get bored, unless you’re one of the ones who dislike his voice (after liking Jethro Tull, there’s not really any voice to annoy me anymore).

The Doctrine of Eternal Ice (Part One) Takes the mellow and melancholic Micro Deathstar and pushes it away with a way more energetic setting, also more dramatic, giving some place to the horns, that surprisingly manage to mix themselves to the neo-progressive keyboards and electric guitar on a background of violins. A surprisingly good, but alas short instrumental piece.

Candybrain follows seamlessly, and if it wasn’t from the play-list, I would have thought it was simply two movements of the same track. A simpler ballad, closer to pop music, but the good kind, because of its non-annoying catchiness. It has the emotions, but not the glitter and drama attached to it.

The album keeps going as one long track with Crumble, a piano-centered composition that could proudly stand on its own, but is rather used as a kind of transition from Candybrain to The Doctrine of Eternal Ice (Part Two), a dark but dreamy composition led by keyboards and vocals, supported by heavy bass in the background. This song, as a lot from Doomsday Afternoon, sounds unique, but still borrows elements from many classic Progressive Artists, namely Genesis, Pink Floyd (although it’s easier to spot on Thank you for the Evil, which follows), and even bands like Porcupine Tree or some material from Mike Oldfield. While the beginning is more dreamy, as I mentioned, the second half of the second part of The Doctrine of Eternal Ice is a lot heavier, with distorted guitar and frankly more electronic feels to the keyboards, pure symphonic Rock.

As said a few lines ago, Thank you for the Evil follows. It’s the first track of the second act. Pink Floydesque string effects on the keyboard, the same heavy bass, but with a guitar far less impressive. Still, it’s a kind of reminder of The Dark Side of The Moon, over 40 years after having it hitting the shelves. Another track with great harmonization and balance in overall, led by an unobtrusive voice. Definitely a great opener for the second chapter of the album.

A Wasteland of Memories is not out of place, not bad at all, really influenced by classical music, but it still remains a kind of weak piece on the album as a whole due to its short length (2:21), which makes it the shortest song on Doomsday Afternoon. When you listen to the record from beginning to end, though, it’s going to be one of the songs with the most momentum you’ll get.

Crumble (the second part) follows, brilliantly completing the first half, again highly emotional, but not in the crybaby way. It’s again, a bit of an interlude, but listening to both Crumble one after the other is great, especially with the female voices.

Formaldehyde comes right after, one of the best tracks of the album (how many tracks are one of the best tracks so far?) if taken on its own, going closer to some folk roots. The song is meant to be where the rest of the compositions build up to, but strangely enough, I think it kind of sticks out, that it’s not exactly as the rest, but you get big hints from the older progressive music during the main theme and the synthesizer solos.

Microdeath Softstar is the ending track, the longest one too, with near 15 minutes of length. It begins with organ melodies for a good two minutes and a half before suddenly breaking into heavier music with the complete usual instrumentation. It reminds of the rest of the CD, with the grandiose allure of The Doctrine of Eternal Ice (Part Two) and the singing of Thank you for the evil. The rhythm is quasi-hypnotic by its pattern, not in the sleepy way, but in the way you may find yourself singing to it without noticing it. By the half of the song, you’ll find yourself stuck in a track way closer to progressive music, relatively distant from what you had with Candybrain. Again, I’m not too sure of how this stands within the album as a whole, but given this is the second part of a trilogy, I assume it’s used as a transition for the next release from Phideaux (after ‘Seven’, which he is currently working on). Fortunately, the song turns back as a kind of summary of the album, taking themes and lyrics from previous compositions. Don’t be scared, it’s not à la Metallica’s St. Anger (hey, let’s play each song TWICE, right?), thank God. The song ends the album smoothly, in a near-perfect manner, if it wasn’t of the longer middle part feeling out of place.

Conclusion

Definitely Phideaux’s best release so far, although it’s a question of tastes. Pink Floyd nostalgics who liked the ambiance of it all may find their niche with Doomsday Afternoon, keeping some dark themes and a roughly similar ambiance. Worth checking out by anybody who’s a fan of progressive, psychedelic or art rock. It’s refreshing to see someone still producing that kind of music (which means not dead or disbanded), although Premiata Forneria Marconi can hold their own ground while being a lot more symphonic (do I smell a PFM review? maybe!)

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