Prisma V^ - Tunnel Full of Fireflies - Album Review - Avant-Garde Progressive Rock from Sydney, Australia
Another cold and snowy day in my surreal life, this time I am writing from the Finnish prison for the first time about a project that needs no validation. While being one of my latest favorites in my personal playlist, this song has been playing in my mind for the last week, and I finally got the time to pay my respects today. Prisma V^ hails from Sydney, Australia, and I am sharing my view on their latest release, Tunnel Full of Fireflies, released on February 26, 2024.
After being heavily involved in music for the last fifteen years of my life, the road ended up ruining all the chances I had in order to develop myself and become a specialist as expected from the global system that currently operates, especially in the Western sphere. The world qualifies people like me as nobodies compared to others who are rewarded by the modern game for constantly creating scams that were built with the sole purpose of stealing attention. Nevertheless, I simply have no regrets about being in this moment and still appreciating real music, and that's what Prisma V^'s project reminded me of. This is one of the unique projects that occupied my mind for the last week that I spent thinking about the ideas that were fused into this magnificent avant-garde prog-rock piece, which is available as a separate album and also in one piece as one song, released as a single.
The Tunnel Full of Fireflies album caught my full attention on my first listening from the perspective of music enthusiast, prog-rock fan, musician, guitar player, composer, as well as music producer, which didn't require me to think for a second but to give it a full feature here on Metalhead Community. As a die-hard admirer of Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd, it turns out that Prisma V^ and I had a lot in common, and their interpretation of all the influences of those timeless musicians deserves recognition by the progressive music world without a doubt.
Firstly, Prisma V^'s approach has followed the road that vintage prog-rock masterminds pioneered at that time. It is a complex journey with climate and time signature changes while maintaining all the necessary freshness and excitement in its musical language. The 14-minute-long masterpiece incorporates rich instrumentation with advanced musicianship, blending retro, vintage, familiar but authentic ideas which were performed by a fascinating guitarist, pianist, and drummer, and led by two exceptional vocalists who added the final missing piece with their distinguishing character, qualifying the work as nothing other than fantastic in my humble opinion.
Moreover, the climate sonically offers a journey that was similar to Pink Floyd's concept albums from start to finish, also drawing influences from Toto, Zappa, early Dream Theater, and Rush. The soundscape assimilates a dynamic contemporary soundscape that moves back and forth from realism to surrealism, widens your perspective, and gives you chills every time it changes the entire scene.
The instrumentation, on the other hand, earned my utmost respect for showcasing advanced musicianship while being as simple as possible. You don't get to hear Yngwie Malmsteen-like shredding; they are rather into the musical meaning of every note that was played. In fact, Prisma V^ isn't anything about technicality, yet consists of every other quality that now qualifies this song as mind-blowing for live-performing potential.
Lastly, there was no singular thing that I can mention as my favorite about the song or the project. While the male vocals and his anticlimactic singing style that immediately evoked memories of the one and only Frank Zappa has constantly given me goosebumps, I am also delighted by the fresh-sounding musical language, progressive values, and the live-performing feeling in all instruments, specifically the guitars and drums. In fact, one of the major factors that I now hold this band in high regard was also connected to the masterfully crafted tonings, sound characterization, and eventually the captivating soundscapes that surround the listener and pull into its alternate reality.
While I have nothing negative to mention about the project whatsoever, subjectively, I'd prefer hearing this band with at least acoustic drums with analog sounds performed by a visionary drummer as showcased in the song. In fact, it wasn't obvious whether the drums were programmed on a computer, and the feeling was most probably a consequence of ending up hearing more and more bands using computerized software instrumentation over real performances recently. I am becoming more and more against the idea of hearing plastic-sounding music thanks to the global trends and those who are blindly following it, without realizing that their music won't mean a thing in the near future after AI dominates the entire music industry and replaces all the humanly created musicians who incorporated software sounds. Change my mind.
In the end, it has been a delightful experience discovering Prisma V^ and their timeless music in the Tunnel Full of Fireflies album. Masterfully crafted contemporary soundscapes incorporated with advanced musicianship, drawing influences from the vintage prog-rock scene of Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, and Rush. One of the most influential projects I came across recently, if not the one. Strongly recommended, instant addition to our new "New Rock Chronicles: Beyond the Mainstream" playlist on Spotify! Thank you for reading.
