PreHistoric Animals
The Magical Mystery Machine (Chapter 2)

The prehistoric animals from the weird place known as Sweden returns with the second part of their story about the magical mystery machine. It is the second chapter in their story about Cora and Jareth collecting the essence of humanity, and like all good science fiction they deal with current states of society in a sci-fi setting. I haven’t really read or closely checked out their themes, but the cover looks cool once again in the same style as the previous. I don’t think it is as good a cover as the previous one, but it is close between them. And as I liked the previous album, I had hopes for this one, the question is therefore if it could live up to those hopes.

In terms of style it is not dissimilar from the previous machine story, but this one is more towards the progressive metal style. Leprous is a band that comes to mind more than once, and that is not just because it says so in the press material. Tracks like Coras New Secret reminds me quite a lot about Leprous, I even think the singer is similar to Einar, but also to several other singers in the progressive rock and metal styles. They might not completely bring out new and never heard stuff, but they have a recognisable and fresh style that will make you notice them – the cover does so as well. Compared with the previous album this one has shorter and more songs, the songs were mostly over six minutes on the previous album while they are mostly shorter than six minutes this time around – I personally prefer this approach as way too many progressive bands go for long songs, and that is not always the best way to do things.

I find this to be an excellent production, a collection of great songs, and an adventure that takes you to some unexpected places. I think the previously mentioned Coras New Secret is my favourite, but it is not the only song that is great to listen to. I like the many epic choruses, and the songs with depth and sense of adventure. It is a logical sequel to the first part of the story, but it takes the story forward and not only in expected directions. It is an album without weaknesses worth noticing, and an album that should make any fan of music happy. It works on many levels, and I think PreHistoric Animals are slowly developing into a force to be reckoned with, one of most interesting new progressive rock/metal bands.

I will not be surprised if these guys give us an amazing timeless classic soon, this is probably not it but it is an album that I recommend as it is great and well worth checking out. There is nothing prehistoric about their music, it is just great and very enjoyable, I don’t think you should miss out on this second chapter in what is evolving into something wonderful.

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