Elleven: Transfiction

Germany has been a stalwart for great progressive rock music over the years. Another band to cross my listening desk is the neo progressive/art rock quintet Elleven. They formed in 2003 out of the ashes of the band Chandelier. They released their first album Insight in 2007 and eight years later are back with their sophomore effort Transfiction. The band's lineup has remained relatively stable over the years and includes:

Julia Graff (vocals, guitar)
Carsten Hütter (guitars)
Armin Riemer (piano, synth, vocoder)
Herry Rubarth (drums)
Roger Weitz (bass)

I'll start out by saying Transfiction is an excellent disc. What you get is proggy melodic rock and neo prog with stellar musicianship, excellent female lead vocals and catchy melodies. All the songs have a great flow and are just so easy to listen to. I am not going to review all the tracks but just for a taste try the fabulously melodic "Blurry Road" with its beautiful keyboards and soaring guitar work. The moody "Not The One" is another winner with plaintive acoustic strumming, warm bass and a cool keyboard solo. The opening track "Try" is one of the catchiest on the disc with its tasty groove, Floydy keyboards and Graff's fine lead vocals. The last four tracks are equally as involving with not a bad one in the bunch.

If you dig bands like Touchstone and Jadis I think Elleven is a band you will get a lot of mileage out of. Hopefully we won't have to wait quite as long for their next one.

A Progressive Promotions Records release.

Track Listing:
1. Try (8:17)
2. Not The One (7:03)
3. Sakura Tree (7:08)
4. Blurry Road (8:10)
5. Anyway (6:12)
6. Reproduction (8:18)
7. Dust And Light (11:11)
8. Losing Tracks (4:54)

Added: March 14th 2016
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Official Site
Hits: 2057
Language: english

[ Printer Friendly Page ]
[ Send to a Friend ]