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Progland was founded by John Gabbard in 2005. It's purpose has been to provide you, the music community with the latest music and dvd reviews. It will continue to be your link to the most popular music reviews in the progressive world.

 

Stencil Forest - Opening Act

Label - Riverwood Music
Reviewed by: Tom Karr
Genre: Prog Rock
Country: USA
Language: English
Length: 49:14
Release Date: Re-Released-2004
Label:
Riverwood Music
Band Members: Doug Andresen lead and backing vocals Frank Cassella guitars, mellotron, keyboards, vocals, lead vocals on 10
  Rick Cassella hammond b-3, grand paino, mini-moog, arp strings, clavinet, vocals Rob Nilsen guitars, vocals
  Scott Noyes bass, pedals, vocals Stan Swaim drums, percussion
  Bill Stout bass on 9 Jim Cassella drums and percussion on 9
     
Track Listing: 1.)-Opening Act (5:46) 8.)-Five Studded Poker Player (5:59)
  2.)- Celestial Voices (4:16) 9.)- BONUS TRACKS: Five By Five (3:30
  3.)- Just A Fantasy (4:36) 10.)- Just A Fantasy-Acoustic Version (4:18)
  4.)-Crossroads-(3:47)  
  5.)- Looking Back (3:59)  
  6.)-The Pandemonium Shadow Show (8:48)  
  7.)Indian Summer (4:16)  
     
The Review

I hate to write bad reviews. So I listen and listen again to try and find work of value in any disc I write up. Stencil Forest is a group of good musicians and their lead vocalist has a very pure and resonant voice. There are a couple of pretty good tunes on this, their first release Opening Act. And that's just what this disc is, a starting point. The band is a trio with Frank Cassella taking care of the guitar, keyboards and some vocals, Doug Andresen on lead vocals and Ron Perron on bass. The band initially went through a number of line up changes with numerous rhythm guitarists and drummers. The band has also recently reformed with Cassella and Peron definitely in at this point. The have also just released a new album titled The Abyss and I certainly hope that it will emphasize Stencil Forest's many good aspects and see the elimination of some of their worst tendencies.***

Frankly speaking now, most of the first couple of track are bad, very bad indeed.. But the last five cuts are all much better and mostly hold my attention. I'll tell you this, this is never going to be one of my desert island discs but tracks six through ten are not bad. Stencil Forest sounds like a cross of Ambrosia, Styx, and Toto with a bit of Starcastle here and there. That might sound a bit odd, but when this band gets their collective groove going they can produce some decent music.***

Of the first five tracks, only track two, "Celestial Voices" gets any real traction, sounding like an outtake from Starcastle's Fountains Of Light. It really is a fairly decent tune with nice themes and very good playing. Track four, Crossroads" has some nice proggy arppegiated synthesizer lines, but basically sounds like The Baby's meets Boston. The following cut sounds like Billy Joel and Journey. No, these first few tunes are not going to endear anyone to Stencil Forest.***

Suddenly, with track six, things begin to happen. "The Pandemonium Shadow Show" is a interesting and powerful piece. It has several good themes that blend well, nice acoustic guitar work and some jarring organ and synth lines that make this tune sound like good symphonic prog.***

Track seven, "Indian Summer" isn't much of a proggy tune at all but it does sound like one of Ambrosia's better singles, good lead vocal, great back up vocals and hooks and more hooks. I've had a soft spot in my heart for Ambrosia (or maybe a soft spot in my head) so I'm inclined to like this tune.***

With the next cut we get more of the Ambrosia influence, this one sounding like it could have come off of Ambrosia's self titled debut release. "Five Studded Poker Player", they call it, and there is gorgeous keyboard playing from Frank Cassella all over this cut. This tune gets treated to a very long fade out, ala Rundgren, with nice piano and organ. Two bonus tracks wrap this disc up. "Five By Five" is another huge leap in style, a reggae/pop song with great guitar and vocals. The last is an acoustic version of track three, "Just A Fantasy", which might not seem like such a good idea, but it's just so well performed and the lead vocal by Doug Andresen is his best performance on this disc.***

So there you go. Opening Act has its eclectic moments; moments of pure sugar coated pop rock and a lot of echoes from 80's AOR rock. But……it does have a few nice moments and "The Pandemonium Shadow Show" really is a well written and quite entertaining progressive rock tune.***

I've suffered though much, much worse than this and these guys do know how to play their instruments and how to construct concise rock tunes. Maybe with their next release they will use these gifts to produce a bit more prog and a lot less schmaltz.***

RATING - 3/5***

©Thomas Karr April 17, 2006

 

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