MAN ON FIRE - Chrysalis (2011)

*

Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, where they were founded by multi-instrumentalists Eric Sands and Jeff Hodges, MAN ON FIRE first appeared on the music scene in 1998 with the release of their eponymous debut album. It was followed by The Undefined Design (2003), which featured Kansas’ David Ragsdale on violin, and Habitat (2006), with Adrian Belew guesting on guitar (as well as Ragsdale’s return).
"Chrysalis", their long-awaited fourth album, sees the band expanded to a six-piece.

The group is centered around the keyboards and vocals of producer Jeff Hodges and the monster fretless bass lines of Eric Sands, with Elise Testone on guest vocals; Quentin Ravenel on drums; Jenny Hugh on violin, Cameron Harder Handel on trumpet, and a selection of tasteful guitar players.
MAN ON FIRE's sound combines melodic vocals, deep fretless bass, varied keyboards, synths, effects and heavy layered guitar soundscapes.
With influences ranging from Japan (the band), modern Rush and Kevin Gilbert, to eighties rock & pop, "Chrysalis" is a perfect marriage between the cream of the ‘80s musical crop and a genuinely progressive attitude, made of technical brilliance and unabashed eclecticism.

Right from the opening strains of “Repeat It” it becomes obvious that "Chrysalis" is not a common album. Its funky swagger, with Eric Sands’s meaty bass lines enhanced by synth bursts, provides a perfect foil for Jeff Hodges’ immensely expressive vocals. Organ flurries and airy keyboards, accented by guitar add layers of texture. The drums are excellent in helping to surround the sound with pinpoint emotion.
The haunting beauty of Jenny Hugh’s violin refrain joins the mix of pneumatic bass and weird electronics to make “In a Sense” one of the highlights of the album, driven to an exhilarating pace by the soulful vocal interplay between Hodges and Elise Testone, and tempered by more atmospheric moments. This track is full of syncopated rhythms intertwined with progressive elements, giving this band its unique sounding signature.

Keyboards open the skewed “A (Post-Apocalyptic) Bedtime Story” triumphantly. This song has an '80s rock ballad feel to it and with Hodges and Testone combining on vocals you are taken back to some of the great duets of that era. The trumpet (no the usual one, it's full of effects) provides the new inspiration necessary to make this unique. The bass and guitar work is excellent.
The title-track offers a nice twist on the old warhorse of the multi-part epic, with short sections strung together by a main theme, and made especially memorable by the wistful voice of Cameron Harder Handel’s multi-sonic trumpet. Eric Sands is joined by Vitaly Popeloff on guitar, providing both clean, melodic lines with an almost Gilmourian touch and harsh riffs, while the mood runs the gamut from hauntingly melancholy (as in Pt 3, “The Muse Returns”) to dynamic and muscular (as in Pt 4, “Free to Fall”), with distinct echoes of '80s bands as well as Rush or Pink Floyd.

With “The Projectionist” the band dive headlong into pure ‘80s territory with an irresistibly hard-funk, slightly angular number propelled by Quentin Ravenel’s drums, spiced up by bits of dissonance and softened by lovely vocal harmonies. The lead electric solos supported by haunting keys is just magnificent and an album highlight for sure.
“Tear Gas” goes even further, regaling the listener with a prime example of 'progressive dance' throwing weird electronic effects, razor-sharp riffing, slinky bass lines, soulful trumpet and great female backing vocals.
The Canadians Rush influence crops up in the most accessible track on the album, the upbeat “Higher Than Mountains”, whose mainstream appeal is subtly spiked by a slightly chaotic ending.
Then, when you thought things could not get more interesting, “Gravity (also included in an instrumental-only version) kicks in, wrapping up the album with 10 minutes of absolute bliss, and the splendid voice of Elise Testone as the icing on the cake. The song is so shaking and exhilarating that it makes you want to dance, the synergy between the instruments nothing short of astonishing, while the trumpet solo at the end, followed by sparse, wistful piano and recorded voices, is alone worth the price of admission.


"Chrysalis" is a very varied album pretty difficult to describe in words.
Eclectic is the word I guess. Their music is modern prog rock blended '80s rock & pop and a dash of refined art-rock.
Indeed, to borrow a metaphor from the world of cooking, "Chrysalis" is definitely not 'your mom’s prog'. It's much more than that.
Though the very mention of the ‘80s and prog in the same breath may conjure memories of extremely divisive albums such as Yes’ 90125 or the whole of Genesis’ output in that decade, Man On Fire possesses a warm, organic sound, with experimentation in the arrangements and terrific, unusual sound and textures.
"Chrysalis" is an album that sounds like no other, superbly recorded, produced and mixed.
Everything about this disc is unique and interesting. A lean, mean machine offering 58 minutes of perfectly balanced music that manages to hold your attention all the time.
Really, really good.


1. Repeat It (4:33)
2. In A Sense (5:24)
3. A (Post-Apocalyptic) Bedtime Story (5:07)
4. Chrysalis:
* Part 1: In Between The Lines (2:53)
* Part 2: The Pundits (3:00)
* Part 3: The Muse Returns (1:41)
* Part 4: Free to Fall (3:15)
5. The Projectionist (4:40)
6. Tear Gas (4:46)
7. Higher Than Mountains (4:19)
8. Gravity (10:12)
9. Gravity (instrumental) (10:02) [bonus track]


Eric Sands – fretted and fretless bass, electric guitars
Jeff Hodges – vocals, piano, organ, synth, samples, percussion
Elise Testone – vocals
Quentin Ravenel – drums
Cameron Harder Handel – trumpet
Jenny Hugh – violin
Steve Carroll – lyrics, imagery

With:
Keith Bruce – electric guitar (1, 5)
Oliver Caminos – guitar (2, 3)
Alexandra Hodges – backing vocals (5)
Tim Hodson – acoustic guitar (2, 8)
Vitaly Popeloff – guitar (1, 4/1, 4/2)
Dan Wright – guitar (4/4, 6)





BUY IT !
www.manonfireband.com