Crown Lands claim the crown with this truly fearless album. Which crown? The crown of the New Kings of Progressive Rock. This virtuoso, exciting and engaging Canadian duo – guitarist/bassist/keys player Kevin Comeau and singer/drummer Cody Bowles – have delivered a record that, if you hold any prog in your soul, will leave you smiling from sated ear to sated ear. It’s also a record full of ideas, that will make you think, that fulfills its promise, and is well worth the wait – how many albums can we say that about? As Bowles sings on ‘Context’: “If life is a wheel/ Please let it spin/ And doors that may open/ Please let me in …” You’re in guys, you’re in.
Some songs on Fearless (Spinefarm Records) have been around for a while, and it was recorded over an on-and-off, six-month period. But this album, something of a leap forward from their self-titled 2020 debut, works as a coherent and complete collection, with a real flow and logic to it, even if ‘Starlifter: Fearless Pt. II’, comes before ‘Context: Fearless Pt I’.
Echoes of legendary Canadian trio Rush abound in ‘Starlifter’, not least the martial, romping, rampant 2112-style guitar riffs, the dedication to the storytelling, and the high-register tenor vocals, aiming for the Geddy Lee stratosphere (and Rush, of course, sculpted scintillating tracks subtitled Part I, II, III and, indeed, IV of Fear – not necessarily in that order).
The flow and coherence and all-around success of the nine-track Fearless clearly has much to do with aces producer David Bottrill (Muse, Tool, Mastodon), fully in tune with the duo’s Rushified agenda. It can’t be stressed enough, though, how “modern” sounding Crown Lands are – inspirations include more than medieval jackassery, sci-fi fantasy, and/or bullshit necromancy.
There is also a counter-culture, politically-astute strand highlighting social injustice and championing anti-colonialism, as reflected in the band name (“Crown Lands” is intended to raise the issue of royal domain or government-held territories, historically acquired from First Nations people. Bowles is a half-Mi’kmaq, who identifies gender-wise as Two Spirit).
The afore-mentioned ‘Starlifter’, at eighteen minutes-plus, opens proceedings with the kind of eclectic, captivating soundscape Crown Lands are already known for. Synths, flutes, chimes, and sitar are in the mix, among all the power chords and kit pounding, for a tale of good versus evil, small versus mighty, robots versus totalitarian aggressors.
The buoyant ‘Dreamer Of The Dawn’, with its hooky chorus, keeps the bar high and Rush relevant. Some might say the Rush references and tributes are too “on the nose”, but there’s also plenty for aficionados of Zep, Floyd, and others to nod and grin knowingly along to. “They don’t make ’em like that anymore?” Yes, they do, my good brothers – yes, they do.
Other highlights include the multi-layered ‘Context’, another rich and varied soundscape with a vast, ambitious musical palette and sheer technical gusto. ‘Lady Of The Lake’ boasts a superb geetar solo (there are several on the record – take a bow, Comeau, who also stars on mellotron and Moog Taurus). ‘Reflections’ opens like Rush’s ‘Xanadu’ before finding its own timing and its own feet, while piano-led closer ‘Citadel’ takes us back to fighting for our own territory, our own destiny.
Bowles has talked of a future with an extended touring band, and another drummer to allow him the freedom of the frontman he seems destined to be. For now, take any opportunity to see this pair re-produce live most if not all of some very complex, very special material.
Buy the album here:
https://crownlands.lnk.to/FearlessPR
9 / 10
CALLUM REID