Dead Heroes Club A Time of Shadow
by Trevor Portz
Staff Writer
According to their Web site, Irish progsters Dead Heroes Club are “on a mission to reinvent and rejuvenate prog-rock in a contemporary context.” This very bold mission statement places a lot of pressure on the band to deliver not only a great prog record, but something modern and unique. While A Time of Shadow is a respectable piece of prog rock-lite, it unfortunately falls a bit short in terms of reinventing or rejuvenating the scene.
Funnily enough, for those unaware that it is a recent recording, A Time of Shadow could easily be passed off as a long-lost ’70s prog record. It features almost all of the trademarks of the style—long songs, thoughtful lyrics, plenty of keyboards, and general mastery of each instrument used. What Dead Heroes Club haven’t adopted, however, is the combination of complexity and variance that practically defines the genre. There is nary a complex time signature, neo-classical movement, or even multilayered harmony. Instead, the extended track lengths come more from endless repetition and musical rambling than innovation and experimentation. Because of this, A Time of Shadow is more likely to lose listeners’ attention than aid in their rebirth as prog fans.
Another odd thing about Dead Heroes Club is the use of the prog rock banner. The music contained on A Time of Shadow is extremely mellow and laid back, many times more closely resembling adult contemporary than rock, even of the softer variety. “The Centre Cannot Hold” is about the most rocking track of the six, acting as an energetic break to the overall monotony. This is not to say that good music has to be hard driving—Norah Jones is a testament to this—but even on the lighter side of prog rock, most groups inject a bit more energy into what they do.
That said, the songs contained here are not bad, per se, and as stated before, the band are technically proficient (within the context of what they do). Unfortunately, instead of exercising their creative or technical muscles, the band members seem more keen on kicking back and playing the same thing over and over again. At least the play it well, though.
So what do we have here? A prog rock band that is neither very progressive or very rocking. Maybe this mislabeling has unfairly doomed the band to criticism. But even looking at the album as nothing more than an album of uncategorized music, the final analysis is still that A Time of Shadow is little more than a drawn-out study in repetition and musical ennui. Of course, if this was the true goal of the band, they have excelled brilliantly.
Now, the initial idea was to end this review by commenting on the many dead prog rock heroes that need to join the Dead Heroes Club to truly “liven” things up, but as it turns out (fortunately as it were), it seems all of the big players in the prog scene (outside of the brilliantly insane Syd Barrett) are still kickin’. Apparently prog rockers live as long as the songs they write. Let’s hope the same can’t be said for punks …
Genre: Progressive Rock
Band:
Liam Campbell (v,g)
Mickey Gallagher (d)
Wilson Graham (b,v)
Gerry Mc Gerigal (g,v)
Chris Norby (k)
Track Listing:
1. Theatre of the Absurd
2. Stranger in the Looking Glass
3. The Centre Cannot Hold
4. A Gathering of Crows
5. The Sleepers Are Waking
6. A Time of Shadow
Label: ProgRock Records
Website: http://www.myspace.com/thedeadheroesclub
Hardrock Haven rating: 4.8/10