Bart: I made a decision. I am not going to summarize the history of this band for you. It is a nice story to read, as you can do on their own website. It is also very complex, consisting of coming and going members, changes of direction...as I said, there is a very nice summary on their own website. Some might want to know that this band has been the main project of mastermind Andy Diskdrive Tillison before one of his side projects called The Tangent outsold it and made him put all his energy in the latter.
This band, Parallel Or Ninety Degrees (Po90), is slightly comparable. The same voice, the same man pressing keys. Then, everything seems to be very different. If one would call the Tangent seventies prog, Po90 would be punk prog. Which doesn't imply any simple chord progressions. I mean attitude. This band has got a lot of it. Constantly seeking for a new kick, be it a kick in the teeth or just petting your dog. There is a lot to explore. This record is an anthology of their past achievements. It consists of two times eighty minutes of highly varying music. In their early years, they made some pretty daring progrock, but still not really leaving the borders. Then they recruited some young folks and a lot of new directions entered the band and turned it into a hell of a ride. Great dynamics (also within the vocal section: less talking more playing) and experiments with new musical directions. As the band puts it, some of the things that entered were 'thrash punk, speed drum & bass, ambient trance jostling around with prog rock'.
So why should you lend this record your ears? Because it is a highly inspiring collection of ideas spanning in the vein of real modern prog with a big heart for the tradition. Because, even though some recordings really sound very homemade (as they are), the songs will enjoy the hell out of you. And when you don't like one of the songs, don't be afraid to press the skip button, because there's one-hundred-and-sixty minutes on there! The second disc contains three songs from a yet unpublished record, which really makes you hope this band will rise up again. If this is the future of the band, there are great things coming around!
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