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Hardrockheaven.net |
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FeedForward - Barefoot & Naked
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| With The Netherlands sprouting new and interesting acts in many genres, the underground feed of new acts is booming. Bands like After Forever, Within Temptation, Epica, Stream Of Passion, Ayreon and Star One are paving ways for talented acts while steadily conquering the rock and metal markets all over the globe. Many benefit from the current interest from labels and managements. With demos flowing in, some stand out …. |
| FEEDFORWARD you may have heard of, mainly due to their many gigs and live performances. The cover art of their new CD is somewhat provoking, creating a wormhole to many players -- meaning, it won't leave the loading tray! The reason for an in depth review of what may be one of the new hopefuls in the genre: Barefoot & Naked takes a spin or two to unleash its beauty and paint the listener a picture in vivid and fiery colours. Hard to define music with progressive melodic rock/metal elements, never tilting towards obvious patterns or breaks and with a keen feeling for melody. Musically it is nearly perfect, presented by this young and refreshing band. All members are top notch players, skilful and gifted, where vocalist Biejanka simply is an asset! Her crystal clear and powerful voice sound amazing -- wide and passionate. |
| The opening "Fade Away" immediately puts up the high hopes for this release with loud riffs, thunderous groovy drums (Pi) and bass (Jan) and an amazing guitarsolo with jazzy influences. Aside the amazing vocal debut of Biejanka it is the skilful guitar playing of Mario with his diversity in styles and sounds, and the swirling keys of Job capturing the attention. |
| "Run the Race" is an example of great musicianship in which keys and guitars are duelling in a hectic progressive mid section over a thunderous rock solid foundation of drum and bass. |
| "Crossing the Line" is the first break enabling the listener to catch a breath. A passionate ballad build around the magnificent warm and clear voice of Biejanka, and boy: does she shine! Carefully moving around the clichés lurking within, the song contains some energetic percussion work and a pompous bridge with loud guitar and key interaction building up tension. Because of this fine-tuned feeling for drama, the band keeps you constantly on guard. |
| The melancholic "Innocence" also manages to keep you focussed due to its seemingly fragile chorus even though the pace is vanished. |
| When "143" enters, your patience is rewarded. Mega-progressive '70's rooted keys over enervating breaks from the new era. Dream Theater shoots by as easily as Rush, Yes and Pendragon in this cocktail of styles, smoothly combining sights and sounds of different spectres. |
| "Our Sky (For One Time)," again a piano ballad, yet very short eases the senses before we are warped into "Before I Leave." One of the best tracks of the last two years. Furious and powerful with staggering guitar solos and buzzing riffs, Neil Peart influenced breaks and percussion work and some gripping and distinguished slow parts creating more depth and tension. Again Biejanka proves to be on top of her game and towards the end even unleashes some heartfelt anger. |
| Things keep getting better when the floating rocker "Silent" is set free. Atmospherically dense ambient metal with loud riffs and pompous keys over a hard modern groove. |
| "Moving" is an instrumental showcase of skills with an "Enter Sandman"-dark feel underneath, that picks up pace slowly and unleashes its tremendous power in the end. Drum patterns are shifting from 3/4th to a mind blowing 6/11th (?), where guitars are keeping us on top with amazing hard edged modern riffing, razorsharp solos and the swirling keyboards drenching the song in a pool of warmth and density. At times you are expecting complex patterns that never come, and suddenly hit you frontal on the most unexpected moment, again avoiding obvious traps and going their stubborn very own way. |
| Always keep the best for last must be the band's credo when you hear "Stop to Think," a highly melodic progressive rock hymn with a sugarsweet chorus that actually has hit potential if it wasn't so darn complex and diverse, breaking boundaries more than one genre. The song breathes quality and distinctly embodies the stylistic range of sounds and emotions, again with the spotlight on the warm and clear voice of Biejanka. |
| Feed Forward definitely is one of the metal hopefuls for the coming years. The production of this debut full length CD is crystal clear and very transparent, enabling the listener to keep track in hectic highs and warm and passionate lows. Though it might need some attention in balance (guitars and vocals sometimes a bit up front in the mix), nothing a third party or good producer couldn't fix. Something which also goes for the running order which might need some improvement. Feed Forward is a band with a unique and stubborn approach towards their music unveiling the element of surprise in unexpected manners, showcasing their amazing skills as composers as well as musicians throughout this top notch record. On top of things, the band has in Biejanka a truly gifted and very unique vocalist. Barefoot & Naked has come available through their Web site and it won't be long until this band is noticed and land themselves a deal! |
| Hardrock Haven rating: 9.2/10 |
| View source at http://www.hardrockhaven.net/reviews2007/feb2007/Feed%20Forward%20-%20Barefoot%20&%20Naked.php |
