Holloway is a brand new progressive rock band which hails from Michigan. Their debut, Illusions, was released on March 17th, 2009. The band fuses classic progressive rock with modern and indie rock with excellent results. Illusions hasn’t left my player since getting it in the later part of 2009. The band consists of Ross Morgan (guitars, vocals, drums), Josh Morgan (bass guitar, programming), and Shawn Julien (guitars) To duplicate the studio album in a live setting, the trio are joined by Rob Parkkonen (drums) and keyboardist Kevin Schaner (Keyboards),
From the opening track “Non-Inception”, a super charged in your face track that recalls Spock’s Beard from The Light as well as Coheed And Cambria, Opeth (mostly due to Ross’ growling vocals) to name a few. “The Visitor” starts out with a familiar melody of “Tubular Bells” which comes off like a homage rather than a rip-off. These two songs are perfect highlights of this album, with a video for the song “The Visitor”.
“Plague Marks” has a more modern aggressive sound to it with no real influences from any classic prog or rock band to be heard. Following is “In Dreamscapes of the Dead” has a atmospheric feel to it. I believe it’s also the intro to “City Of Masks”. At the 2 minute mark, Ross lets out a primal scream that sends chills up my spine.
“The Current” is a very dreamy song that is perfect for wintertime. It’s quite a somber beautiful piece on the album. It segues into the title track, which has a more straight forward sound while have some complex moments. This is also the case with “Teeth & Tongue”.
Another of my favorite tracks on the album is “May My Actions Be Unseen”. This sees the band expanding on their sound, while remaining as part of the vibe of the album. “The Gauntlet” is the ’epic’ of the album, just shy of 10 minutes. The band stretches it’s wings here and slightly reminds me of what Coheed & Cambria and The Mars Volta can do.
Ending the album perfectly is “Torchlight”, with it’s acoustic based guitar theme that ends with some light piano playing It puts the listener at ease… possible for what’s to come. This is one of those bands that deserves a larger audience and earns a high recommendation. This is only for fans of indie rock with hints of progressive & art rock as well as alternative rock. It’s a part of my Top 40 Favorite New Releases of 2009.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on January 17th, 2010
