Band:	Subterranean Masquerade
Album:	Home
Style:	Progressive metal, Psychedelic rock
Release date:	January 30, 2013
A review by:	Ivor

01. Home
02. Beyond The Pale [The Mission cover]

I'm not sure there is an entirely coherent and meaningful way to talk about something that is 2 songs and 12 minutes in length. Well, unless - maybe - it's something new from Subterranean Masquerade. In that case, the story is different. I presume you're asking why?

Well now. For me, the sound of Subterranean Masquerade occupied a kind of unique position at some point in time quite a long while ago. I believe Suspended Animation Dreams was one of the first albums that I loved through and through that didn't conform to the standard mixture of prog. It had that experimental vibe and adventurous avantgarde touch that I found so gripping. I loved that album. Note that I'm using the past tense here because for some reason, with time, it slowly fell into oblivion. Not because of the music. But primarily because the band itself kind of fell into oblivion.

For years I totally forgot what Subterranean Masquerade represented to me, until literally just about a week ago. This little EP here reminded me. It reminded me how utterly brilliant their last album was. And, let's just face it, if this EP is anything to go by, the new album, if and when it gets eventually released, will be nothing short of an extraordinary musical journey through the worlds of brilliant colours.

It's already got that magic quality that speaks to you on subconscious levels. While "Home" is an interesting composition, interestingly enough it's the other song that grips me more, "Beyond the Pale." And, weirdly enough, for a prog band the most prominent association that I get from that song is the quality essence of the sound Lake Of Tears had on Forever Autumn. The emotional harmonies that Subterranean Masquerade hits, are right on the spot.

I might throw a bunch of other reference comparisons around but it likely wouldn't do the band justice. Nor would it do justice to define it as a side-act of Novembers Doom singer Paul Kuhr. Subterranean Masquerade have statements of their own to make. And one hell of a brilliant album to live up to. Let's hope they don't disappoint.