Review Summary: ...the trilogy begins
InMe continue to progress at a pace that suits them. The band have been busy working on their sixth, and most ambitious studio album – Trilogy – a triple album made of three thematically distinct albums: Dawn, Sentience and Quietus. Each album is inter-connected lyrically, musically and thematically across staggered releases beginning with Dawn.
Dawn is ten tracks in length and times in at around thirty eight minutes. It showcases the more song-driven, anthemic side of the band. Still a relatively young band, InMe have established a very loyal and generous fan base. Relying heavily on pledge campaigns to sustain their existence, as a result InMe have the creative freedom to allow them to undertake such an ambitious project.
Lead singer and InMe mastermind Dave McPherson is a juggernaut of musical output. In between InMe releases, he keeps himself extremely busy with solo projects. There is rarely a twelve month period where he is not involved in a fundraising escapade on pledge to fund his next musical offering, all of which reach their targets.
With Dawn, we have InMe playing mostly to their strengths. There are occasions where the band drifts ever so slightly out of their comforts zones. Take ‘Bonsai Forest’. From the get go the pace is more energised; it carries itself with a more upbeat pacing. I find this track on every listen becoming my favourite of the bunch because of its sore finger element.
Dave McPherson continues with every release to improve vocally. His range has grown impressively over the years. ‘Children of Exile’ is a great example of his ability as a vocalist to evoke emotional reactions from the listener, shifting from angelic to raspy at the drop of a hat.
The instrumental arrangement on the album continues to showcase the individual talents each member brings to the band. InMe are not in full force mode on Dawn, they intend to begin this trilogy with a traditional rock sound. The guitars are multi layered and produced to perfection, nothing flashy is being attempted here, InMe are quite simply showing of their talents as well rounded musicians who are extremely comfortable with their roles within the band.
Rhythm section wise, an old school approach has been taken. The job here is to simply tie everything together keeping it as tight sounding as possible. ‘Door Slam Crescendo’ is the best example of all the different elements of sound on the album. It has great variety vocally as well as musically. There are a few interesting drumming sections that on first listen sound slightly out of place and slightly erratic, but as you revisit the track you find yourself looking forward to these brief moments.
Part one of this trilogy has got the ball rolling nicely. To some, it may not be the first part they were expecting, especially after listening to previous album The Pride where their direction seemed to be much more experimental and progressive. What we have here is a veteran band showing experience beyond their years and keeping us guessing on how this trilogy is going to piece together as an overall body of work.
It’s a solid body of work.
