Celestial Burst: The Maze

An idea eight years in the making Celestial Burst finally come to life through their progressive rock debut offering The Maze. Hailing from France, the whole endeavour would appear to be the brainchild of Alexis Lustenberger, a guitarist of clear talent and no little admiration for David Gilmour. The maze referred to in the album’s title is one that needs to be negotiated by a young woman returning to life into a world she no longer understands or feels a part of. Helping us take this journey with our protagonist is singer Kenza Laala, a quite remarkable vocal talent who manages to shape a selection of tracks that don’t always possess quite as much character as they hint at, into areas of intrigue and interest.

Opener “Obedience� pulls in a variety of directions, the clearly Floydian beginning slowly morphing into something that Porcupine Tree would have been much more likely to create. With Laala at the helm that neat segue is handled quite masterfully and it has to be said that drummer Xavier Richard (although it’s only the guitarist and singer who would appear to be full time members of this collective) also plays a integral role in ensuring the dynamics of each section have differing focuses. Where things aren’t quite as captivating is, surprisingly given he’s the man behind it all, in the guitar department. The feeling being that the beautifully played sections of the album’s title track - which is admittedly punctuated by some more aggressive riffs - are nearly all put in place simply to support the main vocal and leaving the results as just a little too uneventful.

It’s a feature throughout, “The Place Where I’m Supposed To Be� spending the first two thirds of its time crawling into a groove that really does get under your skin but prior to that there’s not a huge amount to capture the imagination. Possibly the story itself is too busy informing the music and with such an expert vocal, that’s maybe not quite the complaint it could have been, but in truth, what’s required is a more expansive and exciting landscape for all of this to reside in.

Interestingly the album closes out with a second run-through of the title track but this time with the renowned Anneke van Giersbergen taking on vocal duties and encountering the exact same issues Laala does elsewhere. Personally I prefer the the Laala version but both singers do themselves proud.

Maybe it’s fitting that an album called The Maze should prove to be such an enigma, because all of the constituent parts are nearly but not quite in place to offer up something really rather special. In the end though, it’s more snatches of brilliance surrounded by the ordinary that we’re left with on a collection that hints that given time Celestial Burst could become something really rather special. This album, however, falls short of such heady accolades.

Track Listing
1. Obedience
2. The Maze
3. First Flight
4. The Place Where I'm Supposed to Be
5. Anna
6. The Maze (feat. Anneke van Giersbergen)

Added: June 6th 2021
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Celestial Burst online
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Language: english

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