Album Review/ Prog Rock : PRYZME’s ‘True Stories… and Other Lies’

PRYZME is a prog rock band who create atmospheric experiences. Their music is technically deep and vast in its influence, always keeping guessing, exploring, and contemplating. The power comes after and so do the progressions. They’ll hit you like a ton of bricks but it’ll feel so good. Because all the build up will finally make sense, it’ll all be unleashed and given to you for consumption. Their latest is ‘True Stories… and Other Lies’, a collection that takes you to far away conceptual lands. The songs indulge you in a philosophical dialogue, a contemplation. So cerebral that it’ll put you in a zone. 

‘Echo of Silent Place’ leads us into the album. The interlude presents the pallet. ‘Earth Song’ follows. It opens with cryptic electronic atmospheres, experimental notes, and other noise elements. A prog rock bridge comes on with deep bass grooves and riffs. The beats punch at regular intervals. There are moments of light and mellow ambience. It is fierce and intense, resilient with the way it flows. Remarkable chord tangents open up, build over the bass groove. Until the build up is both chaotic and cathartic. 

‘End of the Anger’ is made with moments of pop vocals. With soft and breezy flows, they form over the hard prog rock grooves. As if rising above it all. The duality of peace and progression is so interesting to take in at the same time. 

‘Green Eyes’ sets a fantastic mood. Flavors of classic rock mixing in with prog rock and contemplative chords. We see a lot of ambient building, expressive instrumentals that take you to interesting places. If you close your eyes, you get swept away in its ascending tide, in its bluesy velvet touches and the circular chord make up. 

In ‘Reality of Dreams’, we see experimental elements grafted into melodic harmonies and vocal scaling. It has that contemporary air, seasoned with blues ballad vocals, a modern spirit but a retro influence. ‘Never Again’ is an intense and dramatic prog rock composition. The bass work is especially remarkable and full of multitudes. With riffs that slant across the composition, grinding, lifting, clashing, and colluding with the bass and beats. 

A great leap off point into the climax in ‘Silent Place’. Which is anything but silent. It is dynamic, explosive and full of energy. It rings with riffs, and is wrung with texture. There are moments of breezy blues, so glassy in a way that reflects back the warmth and heat off the instrumentals. 

Like this, the band infuses a passion for play and performance. It has that experimental edge but also a familiar feel. The place that you begin with and then the journey you take with the band to the world that they create and compose. Listen Now! 

The album is available for streaming on popular sites like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music! 

You can listen to ‘True Stories… and Other Lies’ by PRYZME here -