Lines In The Sky - Insight - Album Review - Modern Progressive Rock from Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Today I am writing about a promising modern progressive rock band; Lines In The Sky, from Nashville, Tennessee, USA with; Insight, one of their EP albums released in 2022.

Lines In The Sky - Taciturnity (Official Music Video)

Directed and Edited by Garret Hayes (Kirkwood Productions, Nashville, TN, @garrethayes_)

Featuring Chris Baldani (mixing engineer @chrisbaldani) and Raelynn Janicke (mastering engineer, @infrasonicsound)

Lines In The Sky is:Jesse Brock- Guitar and Lead VocalsBowman Brock-Drums and VocalsNick Mills- Bass and Vocals

Today, I went into Lines In The Sky music video library and finished watching Taciturnity after listening to the entire Insight EP on Spotify, and now feel like this can be one of the best progressive rock albums of 2022. Simply a world-class job by these gentlemen from Nashville, I had a great time listening to this record.

First and foremost, the album has enough quality, vision, and talent to convince its listeners, even though I had my doubts since the moment I heard the album sound. The work stands out with its impressive blend of modern and vintage rock vibes both musically and technically above everything else. The musical part reminded me of Rush, early Dream Theater, and Pink Floyd in certain parts, I felt like listening to their greatest times. It is complex and super progressive in every possible way, every detail has a crucial role, and these ideas were also supported by the producer.

Technically, it feels like everything sits on a grungy, vintage, and modern stoner/math-rock sound, which doesn't always follow the dynamic character of the musical side. The collective and their producer have touched almost every single detail in the making, so the album stands out with its success in the toning, balancing, and energy level.

Additionally, the musical part of the job has established itself on vintage progressive and modern melodic math-rock influences, but these have never been a limitation in their understanding. The music called them to sound like pop or modern metalcore, they followed. So the songs don't really belong to a certain mood too heavily, rather being dynamic in the first place. From my perspective, they show huge potential with their advanced musicianships with the necessary intelligence and gift for composing progressive music.

Lines In The Sky, band photoCredit: Unknown

On the other side of the coin, my feelings and opinion of the Insight album contradicted each other at certain parts during my listen. First of all, we all have to accept the fact that Lines In The Sky has a very certain type of vocals which isn't for everyone. On one side, I think he is an incredible songwriter and performer, one of the main reasons why Lines In The Sky music is so characteristic and original. On the other side, people might get subjective while getting used to a such specific color of this voice.

The second thing I'd like to mention is the sound design. The album has quality and vision in its production, which is a fact. No one can argue the success and precision of all those decisions. However, I also have to admit that the sound design has that digital and modern math rock character that didn't represent this music for me, even though it is truly impressive working on a such sound that has both modern and vintage qualities. For some reason, I imagined them more with a total analog sound.

Lastly, I also believe that the vocal mix character can be improved by the engineer/producer. The vocalist has the necessary strength and style in his singing, yet his sound mix needs more personal character and style. It reminded me of Brann Dailor from Mastodon and the way they improved his vocals on their latest; Hushed and Grim.

Lines In The Sky, band photoCredit: Unknown

When I put all these into account, I'd like to say that I am blown away by this album. Mind-blowing progressive rock with both modern and vintage qualities, an impressive blend of Leprous, Rush, and early Dream Theater. Strongly Recommended! Thanks for reading.

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