Diagonal

We Say...

Review by Chuck Eddy

Prog-rock is supposed to be cold — or at least it seems to come out that way. So it's always a welcome surprise to find proggers who can get their human groove on while maintaining the beauty, grandeur and complexity that mark the genre's peaks. Diagonal, an amiably shaggy-looking seven-piece from the Brighton, U.K. seaside (two guitarists, drummer, bassist, synth player, one singer who doubles on organ, another who blows sax/flute/clarinet), pull the trick off better than any outfit in years. Their self-titled debut has only five tracks, the longest pair checking in at 10:54 and 14:00; press bio goes overboard dropping names of bands I can detect (King Crimson, Soft Machine, Gentle Giant, '70s Miles); bands I can't (MC5, Sex Pistols); bands I don't particularly want to (Mars Volta, Battles, Lightning Bolt); bands I haven't heard enough to be sure (Guru Guru, Colosseum); and one band I never heard of (Nucleus, unless they mean the '80s electro-rappers who did "Jam On It.") What, no Van Der Graaf Generator? (That last cut is dark!) Whatever — the record rules regardless. Acid-rock wah-wah and intermittent horns drift in and out of minimally repetitive but supremely melodic space-swirl loopage that builds gradually toward pomp's highest steeples, with vocals entering now and then to quiver about the heavens Ian Anderson/John Wetton-style, along with (most devastatingly in "Child Of The Thunder Cloud") polyrhythms bubbling beneath, turning positively funky fairly often. The drums and the horns are what provide the warmth, and the swing. Prog-rock you can boogie to — Hey, guess that makes it fusion, but don't tell anybody.