creation by the honorable and semi-noble Robert
Merrick“
Some of the best reviews, we think, are spurned on by songs or sounds that immediately compel us to dive in with our notes and first impressions and then go back and try and formulate coherent thoughts from all the initial word vomit. If we had been writing back in the day, we know that Saigon Kick would’ve caused this phenomenon (Have you heard the opening shots from both Water and Devil In The Details???) and we know we’ve done this with Owl Stretching so it doesn’t come of as much of a surprise that the connecting thread through all of that, vocalist/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Jason Bieler, would cause it again with his latest effort as “Jason Bieler and the Baron Von Bielski Orchestra”.
The song(s) in question? Well, there’s a lot of those to be found on Bieler’s The Escapologist and we’ll get to those in greater detail soon but know that as a whole the record is an epic modern Prog/Rawk odyssey and could be Bieler’s best to date.
“Industrious” is an intentional earworm with the opening vocal melody just searing into those frontal lobes the instant Bieler begins singing in a catchy cadence amidst a cathartic chaos of time signatures mixing crushing riffs (Partly from KMFDM axe slinger Andee Blacksugar who adds some extra heft here and across other The Escapologist tracks) with pointed percussive pounding from Edu Cominato. First single “Savior” is just the kind of thing a lead song should be to draw listeners new and old in and in this case we get a unique and catchy worldly-inspired jam that’s like a Metal Samba almost while “Stars Collide” is both the rad build up in “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Before all the “Galileo”‘ing and stuff) and the celebratory end of Flash Gordon (And lookit that: Both by Queen!).
“Violent Creatures” is more of a straight Bieler banger and the sounds of that yet to have occurred collab between Devin Townsend Project and Saigon Kick with the wall of sound erected and keyboard-driven melodies still shining through. “Hollow” is a glorious piano-laden ballad with Bieler getting to show off that oft forgotten softer side (You remember that big single from the ’90’s, right?), “Zombies & Black Swans” is a little reminiscent of Devin Townsend’s Synchestra right before he went hard into concept territory with the layered wall of sound cascading over all and topped by a killer chorus, and “No Real Goodbyes” is Bowie-esque circa Outside with the way it exquisitely weaves a sonic tale that brings the beats and bravado and, of course, the Bieler!
“Space Debris” is a buoyant straightforward Rawk number with Prog tendencies (And these synths and horn lines seeping into the framework) as “Sacred Cow” is brings a fitting foray beyond the stratosphere on this spaced out ditty that shares as much with Clutch’s legendary “Spacegrass” as it does Ziltoid The Omniscient with a chorus that’s, ahem, out of this world. “March Of The Viconauts” begins as a somber affair, layered with synths and driven by a solemn piano line before Bieler’s vocal harmonies elevate it all into the upper echelons of phenomenal finales.
The Escapologist lands on February 21st and you can pre-order your copy now by heading here or to the stream below. For more from Jason Bieler, follow the trail of socials across the interwebs by clicking here, here, here, or here.