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Progress Reform

~ iLiKETRAiNS
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

  • Audio CD (24 April 2007)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Beggars Banquet
  • ASIN: B000NQR7W0
  • Other Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 110,603 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

1. Terra Nova
2. No Military Parade
3. Rook House for Bobby
4. Citizen
5. Accident
6. Stainless Steel
7. Beeching Report
8. Before the Curtains Close, Pt. 2 [*]

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5.0 out of 5 stars This green and pleasant land, 18 Dec 2008
By Mr. N. A. Webster - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
With one exception ('Citizen'), every song on this album is memorable. But put together, the effect is a kind of wall of sonorous sound, somehow managing to be simultaneously brutal and menacing, and yet mournful and beautiful, usually building into a climax of epically anthemic proportions.
The opening track 'Terra Nova' is about Scott's disastrous 1912 trip to Antarctica. It effectively captures the sheer barrenness of that landscape, and the devastating ruin of his venture there. The vocals are wonderful, brilliantly representing the despair and defeat of those involved. Starting from slow melancholy melodies, it gradually builds into a driving, mournful (almost brutal)chorus, which in turn eventually develops into an exhaustingly anthemic cacophony.
'No Military Parade' begins with gorgeously wistful strings, almost as if it were an epitaph to the subject of the previous track, the vocals whispered. The melodies are tentative and painfully beautiful to begin with, but build into stronger riffs and drums, and then a drivingly anthemic chorus. It's a wonderfully emotive track, somehow bringing failure and despair together with kind of indescribable power or pride of some sort.
'A Rook House For Bobby' is less dramatic musically, but contains some evocatively poetic lyrics, which create a great picture of the state of mind of the subject. Indeed, most of the songs on the album are written in a way that makes the topic fascinating, and you may well find yourself searching on the internet to discover what they're really about.
'The Accident' is probably the gentlest song on the album, with a soft but devastatingly sad piano intro, desolate low key vocals, and sorrowful melody all conveying the pain of the event described. The lyrics really demonstrate the shock of the subject: 'the ambulance came and took you away, before the coffee was served', representing those moments where everything suddenly falls apart out of the blue, and you're left stunned, not being able to process what really happened, still clinging to what you were doing before. The track builds up into a magnificent symphony, before suddenly coming to an end.
'Stainless Steel' features truly amazing vocals, incredibly dispassionate and cold (considering the event described), alongside mournful strings. The subject drags you in once again, as a picture is gradually built up of someone pushed over the edge who snaps, which portrays their emotions at that moment, almost powerless to resist their own vengeance ('please don't go into the kitchen, that's where the knives are'). The anthemic riffs that build into a kind of solo with the repetition of the character's grievances really give a sense of righteous anger: 'I'll sleep in my bed tonight, where you once slept with her. You can have the kitchen floor. A good night's sleep for once, and one for you forever more', but the melody also really captures the unavoidable tragedy of such a scenario.
'The Beeching Report', which is kind of like the album's title track ('Reform' is the chorus) is hauntingly resonant, a sort of death knell for a way of life, a resigned ghostly dirge, as if the voices of the dead are calling out from beyond the grave. It's incredibly melancholy, and I just find it amazing that the band could write such a passionately expressive song about such a historically dry subject (the reform of railway systems.) By looking at the human costs, they really produced a masterpiece: 'our hands and our hearts are not just tools to ply your trade. They're arms to live our lives, and you're taking them away.' The song builds into a brilliant choral blend, mournful chants of 'reform' combined with a bitter address to Beeching himself merging into something much more menacing, almost as if the victims of his policies had risen up to confront Beeching with his crimes.
The final track, 'Before The Curtains Close Part 2' seems to cover a similar event to 'Stainless Steel', but from a much less sympathetic point of view, the character breaking out of a mental facility to track down their ex-partner. The riffs are menacing and foreboding from the start, becoming more so as they get faster and are combined with the drums, awesomely expressive of the devastating and horrifying nature of such events. It reminds me of the music playing in the final kill scene of the film '28 Days Later', an unforgiving and disturbed orgy of violence, bleak yet somehow powerful.
In conclusion then, this is a collection of fascinating songs, full of history, passion, and a beautiful mix of alternative rock and epic melancholy symphony. If I had to compare it to something, I'd say that it has elements of Sigur Ros, Radiohead, and The Arcade Fire. It has the wonderful melodies and evocative soundscapes of Sigur Ros, the mournful subject vocals and style of Radiohead, and the sheer anthemic force of Arcade Fire. But in truth, I prefer iliketrains to all those bands. Because the songs are all unique. Although the music can be compared to more well-known bands, the lyrics and subject matter can't. And this combines with the music to form a truly unique experience.
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