Nad Sylvan
The Bride Said No

Today the watchful eye of Hallowed scrutinises the latest offering by the progrock vampire Nad Sylvan, who sort of too the world with storm when he released his acclaimed solo debut in 2015. That was when the Vampirate story begun and it now continues with this album called The Bride Says No an album that has been well received by the reviewers all around and that features some well-known and highly skilled guest musicians who in some cases has been co-writing songs with Nad. It is described as an album that takes what Sylvan has done before and elevates it with creative sensibility, actually the press sheet contains many grand statements about that sort of thing – and I am just not sure that they are correct because creativity is not a word that comes to mind when I listen to The Bride Says No.

It is a progressive rock album, rooted in the seventies with some modern Flair – I kind of thought of it as a lesser version of Steve Hackett’s latest albums, but you could really compare it to more or less any classic progressive rock band out there without being in error. Of course the sound is great, excellent production is sort of a prerequisite for the progressive rock scene. The vocals are great as well, sort of Peter Gabrielesque if you want a comparison. The songs are of course varied as is the custom in this genre, they may be varied but they are also quite predictable and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to claim that this is an album that offers nothing new or fresh. If you have heard a bit of progressive rock in your life I am sure you can predict how this album will sound just from hearing the intro.

This is what strikes me most, more than the great vocals and strong songs, the predictability – not that Nad is the only progressive rocker who does predictable music. And while it may be predictable it is still a very good album, I really like the way Nad sings and the musicians sounds great all the way through and I really like the production and all of that. It is just that it sounds a bit too familiar to really take off. I think fans of classic progressive rock will find this album very appealing, I know I like it but it is hardly a standout album. I should also add that the album is far too long, they can easily have dismissed the last two songs because they are not very good and had they ended with Crime of Passion they would have ended with one of the highlights of the album. I think we could describe this as a solid but also predictable progressive rock album.

As the bride said, I also say no to adding this album to my collection – not because it is a bad album but because I already have several albums like it in my collection and this doesn’t even have an attractive artwork. So in the end I think that we can conclude that Nad Sylvan’s new album is a decent progressive rock album, it may not offer anything fresh and unique but it offers some really strong music.

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