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| | Doomsday Afternoon | | | Music Artist : | | Phideaux | | Music Style : | | Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | | Record Label : | | Bloodfish Media | | Release Date : | | 2007-06-21 | | Store Price : | | $13.00 | | Artistopia's Price: $13.00 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Micro Softdeathstar
2. The Doctrine Of Eternal Ice (Part One)
3. Candybrain
4. Crumble
5. The Doctrine Of Eternal Ice (Part Two)
6. Thank You For The Evil
7. A Wasteland Of Memories
8. Crumble
9. Formaldehyde
10. Microdeath Softstar
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 Great Modern Symphonic Prog-Rock
Submitted on: 2009-08-03 |
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Phideaux - Doomsday Afternoon (*****) 10 Tracks (67 minutes)
Listed as "Cross-over Prog" on some sites, I feel that, at least with album, that I would describe this music as Symphonic Prog due to the lush orchestration that accompanies most of the songs and very minimal electric guitar. But, first off, let me just say Wow! This is some of the best modern symphonic prog I have ever heard. It has a lot of variety to offer the listener. You get both male and female vocalists for instance. Sometimes taking turns like a duet, and other times supporting each other in harmony. Then you have all the instruments and musicians. There are nine listed band members with seven guest musicians. Some songs are stripped down to just a piano and vocals that slowly progress to include your standard bass, drums, and various keyboards. But, it doesn't stop there. Eventually you are treated to minimoogs, acoustic guitar, flute, violin, Hammond B3, electric guitar, and a small orchestra of violin, viola, cello, bass, French horn, trumpet, oboe, and clarinet.
The songs become so diverse with all these choices of sounds, even within the song itself, the song structure moves from simple and quiet to lush and orchestrated and back again. As I listened to the album for about the 3rd or 4th time last night I began to recognize some faint influences such as Jethro Tull and some Pink Floyd/Genesis touches, but all very subtle. It also reminded me of the Alan Parsons Project. But this is no copy-cat band; they definitely have their own style and uniqueness. I have not been this impressed with a band's music since I discovered Porcupine Tree years ago in their psychedelic phase. So it should come to no surprise that the band leader and creative talent behind all this impressive music is a multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter (similar to Steven Wilson) named Phideaux Xavier.
In fact, many people mention Porcupine Tree when reviewing Phideaux. I think this is mostly due to the comparisons both of these bands have had to Pink Floyd. Let me just make sure if you are reading this that you are not expecting music similar to current Porcupine Tree (PT) which is now more accurately described as "Hard Prog" than their psychedelic beginnings. This Phideaux album is down-right "mellow", but in a good way in my opinion. Heck, I think Supertramp have written heavier songs than most of these tracks. I think if you liked some of PT's early albums such as The Sky Moves Sideways, you will like Doomsday Afternoon.
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Solid album
Submitted on: 2009-07-14 |
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| "Doomsday Afternoon" is an excellent album from start to finish. Like some of you, it took a couple of spins to click with me, but now I truly enjoy it. I can't compete with the other fine reviews here, just add my voice to the chorus of cheers for Phideaux. Their album is outstanding and very much worth your money. Give it a try, you won't regret it. |
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Are you sure this wasn't made in 74 or 75?
Submitted on: 2009-04-25 |
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Doomsday Afternoon was totally a blind purchase based on some reviews already posted on Amazon, and I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised with the disc. It wasn't at all what I expected. First, if I didn't know it was recorded in 2007, I would have bet big bucks it was some lost 70's-era, Bowie-ish, psychedelic-prog experiment whose rough mix tapes were just recently discovered in some deceased record mogul's estate sale (to cover funeral expenses because he died broke, having predicted rap was just a passing fad), and the tapes were only recently remixed and mastered for release. It is VINTAGE early-mid 70's psychedelic, poppy, prog-ish, Floydian stuff. Heavy psychedelic Beatles/Bowie influence as well as Floyd. Also VERY much in the same vein as Alan Parson's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination", which was the first thing I thought of when I heard this.
Other high points:
* As an homage to that era and that sound, this CD is spot on. I have to accept it as an homage, otherwise I'd have to say there's very little in the way of original ideas on here. It's hard to sometimes draw the line between flattering and purposeful imitation, and unimaginative pilfering of ideas, but I'm going to go with the former over the latter on this one. There is a certain spirit of joyful admiration for the music, and it does come across as a labor of love.
* Instrumentation and arrangement on this kicks ass. Vintage keyboard sounds galore on this thing (I like vintage keys!). String machines, Moogs, Mellotrons, Hammond-ish organs, etc. Lots of strummed acoustic guitar ala Floyd or Stardust era Bowie. Very interesting and well-done vocal harmonies, even if none of the individual voices necessarily grabs me.
* Fairly well and imaginatively constructed melodies and themes, revisited and expanded throughout the piece. This really ties together the music and arrangements on the whole CD as a related work.
* Production. Though the music isn't super complex in the traditional prog sense, the arrangement and recording of the parts is dense and superbly juggled and balanced in the mixing and mastering. Like a good Floyd album, even when the melody or song is simpler, there's still a lot to listen to in the song.
One or two small gripes:
* The vox: can't say I dislike them, but I can't say they blew me away either. For me, some of vox-work just didn't seem as rock-solid as or on par with the playing and song writing. And there are a lot of folks contributing to vocals on this. One of the lead male voices (Phideaux, maybe?) is a little nasally to my ear, and one of the female voices sounds a little uncertain while singing the parts...like she's not quite comfortable hearing herself sing, or maybe just trying to sing rock. My favorite voice belongs to one of the chicks with the lower alto voice. Kind of sexy, and seemingly more comfortable being theatrical or rocking where needed in the songs.
* Despite accepting it as an homage to a certain period and style of rock, I sort of wish they'd branched out, and experimented just a bit more. Might have yielded something that was still awesome but with more of "Phideaux stamp" on the project.
All in all this is an outstandingly consistent product. For me, I don't think any single song is a knock-out 5, but ALL the song are at least 4's and a couple are 4+'s. And because that's a rare feat (that kind of solid consistency, making the whole CD VERY playable), I'm giving the whole thing a 5.
If you love late 60's Beatles, Stadust-era Bowie, early 70's Floyd, or even Parson's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination", I can't envision you not liking a lot of this disc as well. Check it out...
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 Very good; just not "hard" enough..!
Submitted on: 2009-01-23 |
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| Excellent musicianship and lyrics. What I hear is the lighter side of early Pink Floyd (lyrics), Rush (voice), Jethro Tull (flute), and Emerson Lake & Palmer (organ). A lot of different instruments. I personally like a little harder with the above mentioned and Abigails Ghost, Riverside, and Porcupine Tree. I will keep this one on my iPod; just won't play it as much. I would give it another star if the females did vocals on the entire CD. I am 59 years old if this helps any. |
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 Has that "one before the big one" feel
Submitted on: 2008-11-27 |
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This is a really solid entry from Phideaux that makes me want to see what they come up with next.
It's one of those albums that let's you see they've got all the right pieces and their talent could explode into a monster album with the right circumstances. Think of Rush's "Permanent Waves", Pink Floyd's "Obscured by Clouds" or Yes' "The Yes Album". All good solid records, teetering on the brink of greatness. That's how I feel about this one. Can't wait to see what comes next. |
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