GLORYDAZE Music - Articles: Pedestrians Of Blue - 2002 Circles Of Butterflies [Demo]

ARTIST: Pedestrians Of Blue
ALBUM: Circles Of Butterflies [Demo]
LABEL: POB Music
SERIAL: -
YEAR: 2002

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

LINEUP: Johannes Stole - vocals, keyboards * Torfinn Sirnes - guitars * Kjetil Lundo - bass

TRACK LISTING: 01 Father & Son * 02 Crossing * 03 Where The Rain Falls * 04 Out Of The Rain * 05 Crossing (Edit) * 06 Out Of The Rain (Edit)

WEBLINKS: www.pedestriansofblue.com

Background
Some of you may remember Johannes Stole as the driving force behind the Norweigan pop outfit Orange Crush. Pedestrians of Blue, his other band, can be seen as somewhat of a departure; the anti-Crush, if you will. More metal-edged, this EP presents Stole's angrier musical personality, made up of four songs with a progressive metal feel. Of the four songs, I'd say 'Father & Son' is the heaviest, having a riff which settles somewhere between commercial Metallica (circa the self-titled black album) and a Black Sabbath groove. Whilst Stole showcases the harder edge of his vocals, Sirnes proves he's more than competent in the guitar department. One thing which I notice here (as with the Orange Crush EP previously) is the presence of programmed drum tracks. With Orange Crush's pop bias, it did not matter so much, but with Pedestrians of Blue's more metallic approach, it can seem a little out of place..

The Songs
The vocal arrangement of 'Crossing' may be a little by the book (y'know, big backing vocals with slight Geoff Tate-isms on the lead) but I find when it works well it still hits the mark. I have to say, I'm not keen on the vocal treatments on 'Where The Rain Falls', but the track does have other good qualities, namely a solid guitar riff and great musical arrangement. I'm not completely sure how the funky mid-section came about, but I'm sure the band have their reasons. here's something here which reminds me of the greatly-missed Icon, but I can't quite put my finger on it. 'Out Of The Rain', again shows Queensryche influences, vocally and musically, and in terms of arrangement it's without question the best thing this EP has to offer. Fans of the softer-end of the prog-metal genre would be advised to check it out.

In Summary
The press release mentions Toto influences, but I'm not hearing any at all, so I'm a little confused as to what that may be about. Despite my dislike of the programmed drums, which sound a little small up against the material, with regard to production values this EP is absolutely spot on. It has a very polished sound for something self-financed. So, it's definitely not Orange Crush, but that's the obvious intention. I'm now left wondering which project Johannes Stole will work on next.

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