COPE – Icarus Falling (2023)
Artist: COPE
Album: Icarus Falling
Genre: Progressive Rock
Year Of Release: 2023
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Tracklist:
1. Skyward Journey – 01:00
2. Flight Against Fate – 05:02
3. Ascending To The Sun – 00:54
4. Sun’s Fury – 05:33
5. The Fatal Flaw – 01:22
6. The Price Of Hubris – 08:33
7. Mortal Limits – 06:23
8. Fall From Grace – 05:00
9. The Darkness Of Descent – 2:40
This new Dutch symphonic prog band is made up of two members of the obscure-ish trio CPP, whose 2022 album Brushes & Paint was given a recommended rating by Jan Buddenberg.
Cope follow on from CPP, with Coen Fischer (drums) and Peter Everts (guitars), producing an instrumental concept album chock-full of symphonic prog amalgamated with some neo-prog guitar. The concept is, as you can probably guess from the album title, the Greek myth of Icarus. Where Icarus, and his father Daedalus escaped imprisonment from Crete by flying on wings made from feathers, threads, clothes, and beeswax. Spoiler alert, though Daedalus was successful Icarus, ignoring his father’s warnings, flew to close to the sun where the beeswax melted causing his wings to fail, leading him to fall to his death.
The music Cope have produced to illustrate the myth moves in an arched structure over a suite of melodies that rise and then fall in an encompassing and seamless arched structure. The longer pieces are linked together with short ones that feature a recurring humming tune that sounds much like a didgeridoo but on a closer listen, sounds like someone’s deep voiced chanting, that has been treated electronically.
The album then uses a mix of keyboards and guitars with drums and bass in support to produce a melodically engaging set of tunes. After the short introduction the album, ahem, takes flight. OK, stop groaning at the back please. Flight Against Fate shows immediately what Cope are about. Opening with pulsing synths followed by tuned percussion (like a gamelan), breathy keys topped off with chunky guitar riffs. A terrific slide guitar solo ices the cake brilliantly.
Unfortunately, there is only really one more track that reaches these heights. The Price Of Hubris starts with a drum pattern and arguing voices (Daedalus and Icarus probably) moving into guitar driven symphonic prog, a classic rock style guitar solo. It ends with a Roger Waters like bass, all Set The Controls For The Heart of the Sun appropriately. This is great.
The rest of the material though good sometimes feels a little makeweight compared to these two. Though they are not without their charms. Sun’s Fury has some lovely trumpet on it and Mortal Limits ups the volume with some heavy prog riffing.
So Cope’s Icarus Falling is a good album of symphonic rock that is tantalisingly balanced on the edge of being outstanding.
PS: Cope have very little presence of the internet and makes finding information about them rather scant. There is even less than for their previous band CPP (see Jan’s complaint on the same ground above).
Martin Burns
