I guess only fans of the real underground music know about Periferic Records here in Budapest, and even fewer Hungarian people know of bands from the Baltic states. And yet, these guys from Latvia (according to the label’s info page they’re from Lithuania, but you can see Riga in their postal address, so you’ve got to know who to believe...) have produced incredible quality on their current album.
The topic of the definition of ‘progressive’ music doesn’t only re-occur in Shock!, but instead of further endless polemics, let’s just see what makes Holy Lamb so progressive and so great.
This album tells a story with several characters. So, as a concept album, it can be compared to The Hound Of The Baskervilles CD by Clive Nolan and Oliver Wakeman, or to the works of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, just to mention a few releases from the recent past, though only from the concept point of view (compared to it, the first chapter of the Genius trilogy or the two-part metal opera Avantasia would definitely miss the main point). The tale of the Beneath The Skin album reminds me of the 2112 masterpiece by Rush, released way back in 1976. The scene of the story isn’t set in a distant future but, just like the classic work of Rush, it’s about music itself, about the greatness and purity of it. Otherwise, even musically the band is sometimes relatively close to the legendary Canadian trio, and it also seems to be pertinent to compare Holy Lamb to Pain Of Salvation of today’s prog rock scene. But it would probably be more appropriate to measure this album to jazz works, and there are also lots of elements from the genre of musical.
But that’s not all: the polyphonic vocals on The Plan That Failed lead on to a symphonic guitar duet through a crazy rock n’ roll gallop; there’s a heavy choir on Makhtartam & The Low Brotherhood (which is perhaps easier to listen); ‘Audiodurg’ is a mixture of the above mentioned styles and even more, and you can also find a magnificent, almost entirely acoustic instrumental composition entitled Stars Fell On Fertile Lands.
Among the musicians, I would emphasize the performance of vocalist Aigars "Fat" Cervinskis who plays the part of almost all characters here (with some help from the other band members and guest vocalists when necessary). Obviously, this demands a vivid voice with a good range, but this guy fully complies with these requirements. All in all, fans of progressive music, in a wider sense of the term, can’t afford to miss Beneath The Skin. This album is something really unique.
9/10

Tauszik Viktor