Ambitious EP from London proggers
It’s no coincidence that this seven track EP has a track on it called “The Freedom Of The Conscience Mind”. Indeed, it has great significance literally – the record is a concept EP, about the final chapter of a schizophrenic woman’s life – but on a more metaphorical level it seems to indicate the approach to recording.
In that one song, which was the first cut they used to premiere this stuff, it is clear that“Anguish” is one of those records, one that chucks as many disparate parts as it can around and yet, somehow, it all works pretty gloriously.
A jazz and classical influence is as likely as a heavy tech metal beatdown – sometimes there’s both, as on the viscous “Panic” which features No Consequence frontman Kaan Tasan (the record is produced by Daniel Reid also of NC) which veers into some really eclectic worlds.
In common with the rest, though, this gets its job done in bright and breezy fashion – the whole EP clocks in at just over twenty minutes, which lets face it would see a lot of prog bands only just finishing the first overture.
Make no mistake, however, this is a genuine prog rock record. The wonderfully clever use of instrumentals – there are three here, and “Sanctuary”, is absolutely gorgeous – marks Fraktions as not just ambitious, but also amongst the leading lights of the pack, as the five piece really stretch themselves musically.
There are nods to bands like Tesseract, of course (unsurprising, given that Acle Kahney from that band masters it), with “Altercation” occupying the same kind of modern prog space and just holding itself back from the outright djent stuff, although the closer “The Difference Between Drowning An Sinking” would surely be heavy enough to engender a circle pit wherever it goes – that they manage to juxtapose even this with some lilting acoustics and lush harmonies sums up Fraktions perfectly.
“Anguish” is a mighty fine EP from a band who can surely get even better than this too.
Rating 8/10
