Prog4you.com - Progressive Rock Review

Danish-based multi-instrumentalist Robin Taylor is a busy guy, and with 24 releases in his discography since 1990 he is one of the most prolific artists in the field of progressive rock today. The 24th release in his discography is the 8th album by his project Taylor's Universe. Soundwall is the title, and it was released on vinyl in January 2008; with a CD edition to follow later in 2008. On this new release Taylor's Universe has a new member; former Mercyful Fate and King Diamond axeman Michael Denner.

Musically Soundwall is a release that will give any reviewer a hard task in describing the contents. The musical foundation is basically the same as on the last few releases; a mix of musical genres with an emphasis on elements from progressive rock and jazz. The killer is in the details though; there are elements included in most tunes that are hard to place and at the same time prominent enough to warrant a description. This doesn't mean that the music is extremely weird or highly unaccessible though; in fact this release might be the most accessible Robin Taylor has ever been involved with; catchy and accessible; but just as experimental and boundary breaking as ever too.

"Tag Attack" opens the album, an atmospheric and highly melodic tune with dominant symphonic prog leanings. Prominent feature of the composition is a mid section where short solo spots are switched back and forth between sax and guitar. "Step Aside" starts off as a 70's tinged hard rock tune with massive synths that suddenly stops, and after a brief build-up evolves into a distinctly jazz-tinged theme with a staccato start and stop structure, with what appears to be increasingly improvised playing. The song then ends with a more mellow and very melodic outro. "Out of Season" starts with fragile, sad sounding synths. Piano and voice are briefly added before the tune calms again. A new section follows, where the highly melodic synths are invaded with eerie noises and non-melodic disharmonic noises - and out of these noises a carefully crafted melody starts growing and takes over. Some nice interplay between sax and guitar follows, then synths and piano dominates as the song starts fading away.

"Totally Greek" starts with an atmospheric synth and voice dominated mood that sounds quite like Enya as it builds up; before suddenly transforming into a hard rock tinged symphonic prog workout in the last part. "Sandwich" slowly builds up a dreamy atmosphere with pulsating synths and some nice sax and rhythm work as the song evolves, then dissonant noises starts taking over the soundscape in the second half followed by dramatic synths. "Aspx" start out with a barely audible voice; and from the almost-silence of the voice a synth-dominated melody starts growin slowly louder; with a guitar solo added after about 3 minutes. The song peaks halfways; then developed into a massive wall of sound; and when the guitar solo finish after about 5 minutes the song slowly starts fading back into silence, with the voice starting the tune entering the soundscape again.

The compositions on "Soundwall" come across as skillfully planned, performance and production alike are excellent, and all the tunes have a hypnotic quality to them that makes it hard to stop listening. All the songs are highly fascinating; with the three songs on side B being slightly better than the first three numbers in my personal opinion.

Highly recommended.

Rating: 9 (out of 10)
Reviewer: Olav Björnsen

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Discography
Soundwall (2008)
Terra Nova (2007)
Certain Undiscoveries (2006)
Oyster Apprentice (2005)
Once Again (2004)
Experimental Health (1998)
Pork (1996)
Taylor`s Universe (1994)