Reptiel: The Planet of Progkp

I first became familiar with San Francisco based Reptiel in 2015 and their debut album titled Hobbitozz. The sci-fi/fantasy concept piece was one I quite enjoyed. Well, the second installment is here titled The Planet of Progkp. The protagonist from the first album continues his epic journey, this time being transported to a dark realm (or planet) where light never sees the day and darkness has taken over the land.

Reptiel have a pretty cool sound, steeply bound to the ‘70s psychedelic era. The music can be mellow and/or rocking, more hard rock than anything approaching metal. The psychedelic guitar textures abound giving more than the occasional nod to the past. That said, please do not think this isn’t a creative and refreshing sound because it most certainly is. The vocals are also noteworthy, quite melodic but distinct with nice melodies scattered throughout these fifteen tracks and sixty-three minute running time. Yes, there is no doubt this takes up a bit of your time but I found it to be very worthwhile.

The disc begins with the short “Sine (Such a Weird Star)�, a moody layer of sound and voices, very keyboard dominated. The next two tracks are very much psychedelic reflections of the ‘70s done with the band’s own unique spin. “The Spirit Usher� is a psychedelic rock/pop piece with a nice groove and sustained guitar trippiness while “Relativity/Deranged� has a more psych jam sound going on. On “Shadow People� the riffs move in and out of focus creating a kaleidoscope of groovy textures and the vocal arrangement carries some nice melodies. There is lots more to dig into here so I’ll leave you to it.

Overall, this is a fine follow-up to Hobbitozz, in fact I might even enjoy it a bit more, hence the four star rating. Recommended.

Track Listing:
1. Sine (Such a Weird Star)
2. The Spirit Usher
3. Relativity/Deranged
4. Shadow People
5. It’s a World
6. See Level
7. Clarity, Clarity
8. Longing
9. The Man Who Played the Sound Waves
10. Feel the Atoms
11. There’s a Star in Your Mind
12. The Cosmos of Your Mind Is Expanding
13. The Hallowed Bones of the Alien Elven Souls (Temple of the Avian Aliens)
14. Aleph Adept
15. Progkp

Added: November 12th 2018
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Bandcamp Page
Hits: 899
Language: english

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