Album review: EXOVEX – Radio Silence
Self-released: www.dalesimmons.com [Release date: March 2015]
Greenville, South Carolina. Hardly a town known as a creative hub for progressive rock one wouldn’t have thought – but, something is stirring in downtown Greenville and all fans of the genre had better get their maps out…
Exovex, the alter-ego of multi-instrumentalist Dale Simmons is about to change the way you think about progressive rock from America – which, with the notable exceptions of Spock’s Beard and Dream Theater, has generally been below par when compared to the European brand.
Simmons has written everything, produced the album, designed the cover, sang everything and, with a few notable exceptions, has played everything on what is a quite brilliant album.
Those notable exceptions should get a mention as they give a clue as to the direction of travel of ‘Radio Silence’, particularly Richard Barbieri (keyboards) and Gavin Harrison (drums) who, despite only playing on one track apiece, demonstrate that the over-arching influence here is Porcupine Tree and particularly Steven Wilson.
Simmons’ voice in fact, especially on the early tracks, is a shoo-in for Wilson’s dulcet tones, but despite the obvious influences there is much more at work here than slavish imitation – influence, yes; plagiarism, definitely not.
In many ways the music on ‘Radio Silence’ is an amalgam of PT, Gilmour’s guitar phrasing with ‘Floyd, a little Steve Hackett and the occasional burst of Cobain – circa ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
Two and a half years in the making, the concept of the album focuses on the downward spiral and ultimate demise of a man due to the psychological and physical effects of self-imposed isolation – presumably a la Major Tom in the vastness of space.
The music itself is absolute top-drawer progressive rock with delightful, spacey guitar arpeggios segueing into classic rock rifferama, soaring keyboards and Simmons’ Wilson-alike vocals all underpinned by his exceptional fretwork – check out particularly the Gilmouresque solo on the excellent album closer ‘Daylight’ – gives ‘Comfortably Numb’ a run for its money and there’s no higher accolade, trust me.
If all this smacks of ‘I’ve heard it all before’ – think again, as there is a distinctive vein of innovation running through the album that induces a listener’s nod of approval – as an exempli gratia check out the vocal phrasing of the lyric ‘I know what you’re thinking but I know what I saw’ being used almost as an instrumental riff on ‘Dead Reckoning’.
As a piece of outstanding, contemporary progressive rock ‘Radio Silence’ is almost peerless – a result of both its influences and its innovation coupled with outstanding musicianship throughout – now where’s that map of South Carolina?…
Exceptional.
*****
Review by Alan Jones
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.
Next session: Sunday 1 December
Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio
David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.
UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.
How to Listen Live?
Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)
Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”
Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.
More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com
Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024
ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)
Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)
PDF - you can delete unwanted sections