The High Places (Prophase Music, 2013)
The High Places is one of the most anticipated releases of the year. It’s the latest album by Oblivion Sun, a band that features Frank Wyatt and Stanley Whitaker, two founding members of Happy the Man, one of the finest progressive rock bands of all time.
The attractive fantasy artwork hints at good things inside. The album opens with an excellent instrumental piece titled ‘Deckard’ that demonstrates why Frank Wyatt and Stanley Whitaker have such a great reputation. It is highly skilled symphonic progressive rock at its best, with fusion elements.
The 2nd piece is titled ‘March of the Mushroom Men.’ It’s a pleasant, simpler instrumental track although the guitar-oriented piece sounds more like anthemic rock than progressive rock.
Vocals appear on a short ballad titled ‘Everything.’ Guitarist Stanley Whitaker is also the vocalist and he presents a simple, gentle song.
The weakest piece in the album is ‘Dead Sea Squirrels.’ Instead of their trademark state-of-the-art progressive rock, the band goes into a repetitive hard rocking piece with heavy pounding drums. Although it has brief guitar solos and mellotron halfway through the piece, I was glad when it ended.
Oblivion Sun gets back on track with a splendid suite titled The High Places that includes 5 sections: My Eyes, Awakening, Flowers, The Rules, and The Cage. Happy the Man fans will love this magical 22-minute opus loaded with instrumental virtuosity by all the musicians and outstanding vocals by Whitaker. I should note that keyboardist Frank Wyatt makes more use of the piano than I can remember and has less synthesizer solos. The High Places will also satisfy progressive rock fans with its well-crafted epic conclusion.
Looking at the album credits, it is evident that the stronger material in The High Places (the opening piece and the suite) are the compositions by Frank Wyatt. He is one of the most excellent progressive rock composers in the current scene. It’s a shame that we don’t get exposed to more of his work.
New band members David Hughes (bass guitar) and Bill B. Brasso (drums and percussion) are talented musicians who bring great value to the band.
The High Places contains first-class progressive rock and features some of the top talent in the current scene.
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