The Resonance Project – The Resonance Project

Madness. This is how I would describe this album in one word.

Composed of members of the amazing Thraikill (ex-Mammoth) Yas Namura and Lang Zhao, The Resonance Project marks their debut as songwriters, who did the exploit of pushing the boundaries of progressive music to a whole new level.

The album starts with a huge orchestral soundscape which kinda reminds me of the Harry Potter soundtrack composed by the almighty John Williams, and the opening track itself is enough to realize that the whole thing is gonna be as polished and well-crafted as the masterpieces of their kind.

It’s after this introduction that The Resonance Project reveals its true self: A mind-boggling combination of Djent and Jazz-Fusion, sprinkled with huge orchestrations adding even more power to this total chaos. This record is perfectly produced and feels like if Native Construct and Nova Collective had a child. On steroids.

But all this madness is handled with master hands. These intense sections are balanced with softer moments in which the bass is put at the front, and the drumming is lighter yet keeps an impressive sense of groove, which allows the album (and the listener) to breathe for a while, and then going back to chaos.

One another example proving that The Resonance Project is masterly crafted is by looking at its length. 37 minutes seem short on the paper, but the sheer intensity coming from this record would make it exhausting to listen if it was longer.

The Resonance Project – A Progression to Inifity (click here if the video doesn’t play)

Peaking at 13 minutes and 27 seconds, ”The Anthem” is, as the title implies, the anthem of the album. This track stands out from the others for its variety, going through multiple soundscapes such as Orchestral music, Technical Death Metal or even Flamenco with an amazing acoustic interlude followed by an unavoidable bass solo by the guest musician Bubby Lewis. But the best lies at the end, with one of the most soulful guitar solos I have ever heard, leading to an ethereal ending track with soaring voicings from Nyla McDaniel.

The Resonance Project  – Neo Thangka (click here if the video doesn’t play)

Speaking of guests, there are plenty, like the prodigy Mateus Asato, the guitarist Yo Onityan from Rings of Saturn, or the tapping master Felix Martin to name a few. All of them come from very different universes but they all share a common thing: their presence make the album even better than it already is by bringing a surprise effect to the listener.

To conclude, The Resonance Project came out of nowhere with a record reaching a level of creativity I have never seen anywhere since An Endless Sporadic‘s latest release. Everything about this record is phenomenal, from the musicianship to the production, and this album definitely stands out as one of the best debut albums of the whole modern progressive scene.

Tracklist:

1. Prelude
2. Progressiong to Infinity (ft. Chase Bryant)
3. Reflection
4. Neo Thangka (feat. Mateus Asato, Yuki Hayashi & Felix Martin)
5. The Anthem (ft. Taso Comanescu, Bubby Lewis, Yo Onityan & Ziyin Zhao)
6. Angel’s Ladder (ft. Nyla McDaniel)