City of the Sun (10t Records 10t10078, 2014)
One of the surprises of the year is the debut album by a new American progressive rock band called Heliopolis. City of the Sun is a progressive symphonic rock gem that showcases the talent of former members of various progressive rock bands: Mars Hollow, Ten Jinn, Rocket Scientists, and Genesis tribute Gabble Ratchet.
Heliopolis displays a formidable array of instrumental talent along with an outstanding lead vocalist, Scott Jones. Musically, the band gets a lot of its inspiration from Relayer/Going for the One-era Yes, early Genesis and American band Spock’s Beard.
The album opens with New Frontier, featuring a powerful instrumental section where we get treated to exquisite guitar and keyboard work. The drums provide multiple variations and the bass generates creative lines. The piece has vocals, but the instrumentalists are given lots of space to showcase their inspiration. Although I mentioned Yes as an inspiration, the keyboards sometimes have an America progressive feel with bluesy electric organ and piano together with the synth solos and mellotron.
‘Take a Moment’ begins with fabulous mellotron. This piece is more vocal oriented, featuring great vocal interplay and notable electric organ and guitar work.
‘Mr. Wishbone’ is a little quirky, with unexpected time signatures, some experimentation and improvisation.
The album’s rock ballad is track 4, titled ‘Elegy’. This piece gets more progressive when the organ and guitars give way to the epic instrumentals section.
The grand epic however is track 5, ‘Love and Inspiration.’ This is a masterful extensive suite. It has it all: a beautiful piano opening that progresses into an impressive instrumental sections with dazzling synth and guitar jazz-rock lines and symphonic arrangements. Next come the memorable vocals grab you immediately. After several more wonderful instrumental sections, ‘Love and Inspiration’ leads you to a superb grand finale. This fine piece is destined to become a classic, with sing along sections that fans will remember for years.
Heliopolis is based in Los Angeles (California). Band members include Jerry Beller on drums and vocals; Matt Brown on keyboards and vocals; Kerry Chicoine on bass and vocals; Mike Matier on guitars; and Scott Jones on vocals.
City of the Sun is a splendid debut album by one of the great new talents in the international progressive rock scene.