Review Summary: A good, solid effort at coming up with a melodic progressive rock that does not attempt to dazzle with pyrotechnics but produce some enjoyable music.
Progressive rock is a much-maligned genre, quite often for a good reason, and personally, I try to stay away from it whenever possible. The biggest problem usually lies in the fact that progressive rockers are guys with inflated egos that want to show off how technically great their playing is, throwing in fast-paced tempo changes and flashy solos too many times and without any apparent musical reason. Usually, you end up with a musical mishmash that is as interesting as a strobe light directly flashing into your eyes for five to ten minutes.
Of course, exceptions exist, and they are those that try to follow a melodic line of a song, do have strong instrumental prowess, but which is used for a reason and a purpose. Basically, making the music listenable and enjoyable. Names? Anybody from post-psychedelic Pink Floyd, or lately Marillion or Porcupine Tree. There is quite an extensive line of bands and musicians following that line as far back as the early seventies in countries that do not necessarily fall into rock mainstream, particularly Italy, former Czechoslovakia, Argentina and elsewhere.
And that is where the Iranian band Mavara come in. Iran is definitely not a country you would consider as a part of rock mainstream, but Mavara (the loose translation of the band's name would be “beyond everything you think”) have been able to strive and to even reach an audience outside Iran’s borders, particularly among progressive rock fans. Among other places, they have toured France, and have performed at the “ProgDay Festival 2013”. Actually, they are currently touring the United States, which has attracted some media attention (NH Chronicle/ABC Television, the cover of the “Spotlight” magazine and other).
All this coincides with the release of their fourth album (third in English) Consciousness. It is a concept album, as are many in prog rock, that describes a soul reincarnation from the year 636 in the Gregorian calendar up to distant future. Although I personally don’t care much about the band’s story line, Consciousness turned out to be quite an enjoyable listen, even with my personal prog rock reservations. This is mainly due to the fact that the band is not forcing the issue of the fact that they know how to play well, and they certainly do. They stick to the melody line, which is quite strong throughout the whole album, and to not interject the music with unnecessary tempo changes or too many solos. They could have done without some Rick Wakeman-style synthesizer stylings (the introductory “Invasion” for example), but such instances are rare and do not necessarily jar from the experience.
And if I have mentioned Pink Floyd, Marillion and Porcupine Tree, that is exactly where Mavara has picked up their cues, and they are certainly good cues. This turned out to be quite an enjoyable album, even to me who am not a prog lover.
