Konchordat - The New Crusade


Konchordat
The New Cruisade
(Konchordat Music KMCD1002)

Konchordat for me is a new name, though it appears the group released an album called English Ghosts in 2009. Driving force behind the group is Steve Cork (bass, keyboards and bass pedals) who in Stuart Martin (vocals, guitar and keyboards) found a new partner in crime. Martin was one of guest guitarists on English Ghosts. On The New Crusade, they are assisted by Liam Green on drums.

Listening to the six-track album, I can only conclude that the gentlemen put their ears to a listen to Magellan, IQ and It Bites and they have forged their style. Frequently the keyboards, usually in combination with the guitar playing the same melody, bring the magnum opus of It Bites, Once Around The World, in mind, while the very sudden breaks and heavy pounding work with bombastic bladder samples have a strong Magellan’s Magna Carta reminiscent. Throw in the symphonic sauce of IQ, especially in the spherical portions, and a new Konchordat is born. The beauty of this album is that Konchordat continues to play this combination in mostly all of the songs, with the exception of Time To Go which really sounds like IQ.

Overall it is always the sum of three, which dominates each song in a very positive way. A nice solid guitar solo in Panic Room, colse to hard rock, with Dream Theater-like structures of guitar and keyboards make it the best track of the album, although the title track, Heaven's Gate and A Coming Of Age are hardly inferior to the high level of Panic Room. Scars Inside is actually the stranger in their midst since the song, despite the bombast and the interplay of keyboards and guitar, sounds too much the same and the strong melody leans to the progressive hard rock tendency.

The New Crusade is an album which grows with every time you play it and thus reveals the recognition of the musical mix, without, and I should really emphasize that, distraction. It truly is unfortunate when after fifty-five minutes Stuart Martin ends with "It's Time For Me To Go" and a spherical carpet of keyboards supports the closing Hackett-style guitar solo.

Tracklist:

The New Crusade
A Coming Of Age
Panic Room
Heaven's Gate
Scars Inside
Time To Go

Comments

konchordat said…
Mant thanks for your great review of our album 'The New Crusade'.
We're really pleased that you like it so much
cheers
stuart martin(konchordat)
November 8, 2011 at 10:24 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Introduction To Dutch New Wave Vol. 32

Image
And that brings us to Volume 32 of An Introduction To Dutch New Wave. This time 65% of the numbers came from recent purchased vinyl. I will keep telling that Discogs has become a major resource for discovering and hunting vinyl from bands and artists, that sometimes released one single only. But since a couple of weeks I am using a great cross reference site called Nederlandse vinylsingles . The guys behind this site are doing a great job, tracking down all Dutch vinyl singles. Some information on several songs. The Kimono track is spelled wrong. I kept it this way, since the cover of the single shows the same title. It’s one of the groups of which I used the single b-side instead of the a-side. The others are Blackout (b-side of Obscure Disco), G.T. Modell (b-side of Scratch Your Act) and Weekend At Waikiki (b-side of The Valley). Frederic And The Flies was a one off project by producer duo Bolland and Bolland. Not only the group name refers to Adam And The Ants, t...
Read more

A Flock Of Seagulls

Image
Being a fan for many many years I was really surprised the band decided finally, after 25 years, to do an European tour again. I am aware of the fact that it's only Mike Score nowadays who's left of the old line-up. Still I like to see them, because back in 1984 I was unable to visit the famous Noorderligt at Tilburg. On 09-09-09 A Flock Of Seagulls will play the well known Paradiso theatre in Amsterdam. I became an instant fan of the four when I heard I Ran on the radio. But it was Wishing (if I had a photograph of you) which really turned me into AFOS. Through the years I was able to track down most of their vynil releases. And of course the CD's followed as well. I even became a member of the Airborne Division. With the internet things changed and in 1996 I was able to get a CDR copy of most of the b-sides and rare recordings of AFOS ripped from vynil, which I like to share with you. The recordings are from the period 1982 - 1985 when they had the line-up of: Mike Score ...
Read more