Journey Within
-- Shumaun --
19/08/2021
Stijn Daneels
Album genres:
| ■ | progressive rock |
Album artists:
| ■ | Farhad Hossain | Vocals, guitars, keys |
| ■ | Jose Mora | Bass |
| ■ | Tyler Kim | Guitars |
Review written by Corin Geypen.
The fifth song, entitled “Invincible,”
has clear Middle Eastern influences in both style of instrumentation and
vocals. From an almost airy introduction over distant shores, the song then
quickly snaps back into rock format. Vocals and music are polished and clean,
with catchy tunes to induce singalongs. The lyrics ask interesting questions to
the listener, though. For me the line “Am I so invincible?” in particular made
me pause.
I really enjoy the bass line underlining “Under the Sun.” It adds a little groove to an otherwise pretty straightforward song. The drums here take a decidedly more prog turn than before, though it’s still a matter of interpretation. Throughout the album I get a feeling of almost clinical neatness, everything placed just so. With “Under the Sun,” I reach the halfway point of the album and I’m still not sure if I like it. It’s a nice album, sure, but does it actually say anything? It feels as if the emotions expressed in the lyrics were polished out of the music. Which is a definite loss in my book. “The Pursuit of Happiness” is the second instrumental on “Memories & Intuition.” I’m glad to hear the bass come to the foreground again, while the rest of the band flex their prog rock muscles. There’s a fun solo in there, too. Much more convincing than “Jabriel’s Song.”
[CORIN REPORTING]
Asher Media sent us “Memories & Intuition,” the third outing by progressive rock band Shumaun. This Canadian project is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Farhad Hossain and it’s certainly an interesting mix of rocky guitars, Eastern influences, proggy sections and featuring an all-star lineup of drummers including Thomas Lang (Peter Gabriel, Paul Gilbert), Atma Anur (Jason Becker, Tony Macalpine), Mark Zonder (Fates Warning, Warlord), Leo Margarit (Pain of Salvation), and Chris DeChiara. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s dive in.[SHREDDING BASICS]
“A Subtle Invocation” dives right in
with Farhad’s vocals and a neat rock intro. I enjoy the vocal lines, and I’m
reminded of Baroness in terms of setup and play style. The lyrics are dark and
intriguing, which immediately draws me in, too. After three listens, I’m
singing along. Definitely catchy and a worthy opening song. I’m a little put off by “Prisoners.”
It feels like this sweet, poppy jingle that could possibly do well on the
radio, but it just doesn’t jive with me. I do commend Farhad for the vocal
risks he takes in this song, he definitely pulls them off. Part of me is
curious to know how many takes it took and if he can do it live, but that’s
probably just me being super critical as a fellow vocalist.
The third song is “Memories of Water.”
The keys are featured more prominently in this song. Again I’m kind of
impressed by the vocal lines and how they immediately make you want to sing
along. The guitars have this cool little hook in the background that’s very
enjoyable, too. “Jabriel’s Song” is an instrumental
with a cheesy, expected pattern. That said, it still manages to be pleasant to
the ears and to keep your finger away from the skip button. So there’s that.
Honestly, though, it’s a pretty standard tune which has a certain charm. It did
make me wonder who Jabriel is.
I really enjoy the bass line underlining “Under the Sun.” It adds a little groove to an otherwise pretty straightforward song. The drums here take a decidedly more prog turn than before, though it’s still a matter of interpretation. Throughout the album I get a feeling of almost clinical neatness, everything placed just so. With “Under the Sun,” I reach the halfway point of the album and I’m still not sure if I like it. It’s a nice album, sure, but does it actually say anything? It feels as if the emotions expressed in the lyrics were polished out of the music. Which is a definite loss in my book. “The Pursuit of Happiness” is the second instrumental on “Memories & Intuition.” I’m glad to hear the bass come to the foreground again, while the rest of the band flex their prog rock muscles. There’s a fun solo in there, too. Much more convincing than “Jabriel’s Song.”
“Tides…” Wow. Unfortunately, I don’t
mean that in a good way. I felt I got propelled back to eighties crooners, with
very little to distinguish this song from what came before. There’s a little
Peter Gabriel in there, maybe Pink Floyd if you squint. But mostly, it’s bland.
The lyrics are excellent throughout this album and it makes me sad that there’s
just no passionate response to them musically. “Intuition Underground” gets right
into it with a rocky intro straight off of a Velvet Revolver album. Whereas “Tides”
felt eighties, here I’m in the nineties, with some dirty grunge rock dressed in
a three piece suit. It is definitely going to be a crowd-pleaser live, as it
makes you want to dance and shout along to the lyrics.
When I first heard the intro to “Breathing
Light,” my first response was “Finally!”. Finally something raw sounding after
an album of cleanliness. I feel the band really hits its stride here. Away from
the goody-goody, for lack of a better expression, and into something clearly
more passionate and unpolished. That doesn’t mean everything doesn’t fall
neatly into place, they’ve clearly worked hard on everything being exactly as
it should be. But I finally feel they’ve allowed themselves to just make music
and feel something. Farhad deviates from the standard lines – there’s
even a scream or two! – and the music
lives and breathes a different tune entirely. It’s also decidedly more proggy
than all of the rest of the album put together. It’s like the band finally let
their hair down. Needless to say, it woke me up and made me feel a lot better
about this album.
After a highlight like "Breathing
Light," the succeeding song "A Planetary Shift" just falls flat. What a shame! Clearly Farhad
has a lot to say, but the execution is honestly just boring. I actually used
the skip button for this one. Let’s just move on, shall we?
The final song is called "The Day We
Said Goodbye." It’s mostly an instrumental and it feels like it’s in the right
place as a last outing for the band on this album. It’s a moody little piece,
mostly reliant on interesting drums and a neat guitar/piano jingle. It’s a
soothing finisher, with complementary rain drops in the background.
[SHREDDING VISION]
Shumaun’s cover for “Memories & Intuition” is a crowded one. There are so many things to discover in this one image. There’s the serene lake with the two people under the tree, there’s the sailboat, there’s the man holding the framed picture in the foreground of yet another pair sitting on a quay watching another sailboat, and lastly, there’s the city hidden in the back. Considering this album seems to be a collection of memories of a single life, it fits that it’s full of stuff and that a lot of things are sparked from this single image. Still, it takes a while to take it all in. It will definitely get your mental gears grinding, should you choose to study it in detail.[SHARPEST SHREDS & BLUNTEST BLADES]
Obviously, my favourite song off this
album is “Breathing Light.” It felt the most natural and the most alive. I was
happy to see them step away from the almost scientific sterility the rest of
the album breathes. A close second is “A Subtle Invocation,” but that’s
probably because you can’t stop yourself from singing along. “A Planetary Shift” was the most disappointing for me. It brought nothing
new to the musical world and just felt empty.
[CORIN’S SCORECARD]
Shumaun’s “Memories & Intuition”
is a fine outing if you’re into prog rock, I suppose. I tried it to diversify
my own musical collection, but it’s much too clean for my tastes. It has
definite highlights and the band knows how to write poppy earworms. I really enjoyed
a song or two, especially "Breathing Light," but mostly it was just okay. The Eastern influences were a nice touch and added a little something special to an
otherwise polished, but mediocre band. I give Shumaun a 6/10.