The Theme: or Le Delire de Negation
by: False Haruspex
Despite their perplexing band name (which I'm almost certain they stole from the lyric of a Clutch song) False Haruspex have created a monster of an album. The Theme is difficult to describe, as it is stylistically rather far-reaching. It rocks hard, has moments of crushing doom, moments of overwhelming beauty, plenty of nerdy prog-rock interplay, and lots of noise; all of it tied up into a cohesive, album length composition. The band's prog-rock influences are certainly apparent in the piece yet they favour atmosphere and mood over gratuitous soloing. Rather than being an overblown wank-fest, with each section serving to show just how clever the writers and performers can be, The Theme has more of a film score quality to it. It rocks hard, and cleverness does abound, but it makes sense when all is said and done, even to the non-musician listener. The visual imagery conjured up by the music is vivid, and it takes you on a journey filled with unexpected side trips (some pleasant, some terrifying) before eventually taking you to exactly where you want to be. That is to say: This album totally rules.
I don't know who to compare these guys to, and neither do they, but you'll probably dig them if you're into good music in general. I wish I could make it easy for you by tagging this release with a huge list of recognizable band names, but I'm at a loss... and it would feel sort of like cheating. Feel free to offer any suggestions.
Individual human beings are free (even encouraged) to sample this music for their own, personal, non-commercial, creative works. Just give the False Haruspices credit for their work... and by all means, let us hear what you've made. Contact us if you'd like to acquire any or all of the individual multi-track files for remixing, rearranging, sampling, etc. On the other hand, any human being acting on behalf of any corporation, political or religious organization, society, or any agenda-driven collective, may go straight to Hell. By that I mean: No, you absolutely do not have permission to use any portion of this creative work, in any way, shape or form, for any reason whatsoever. Having said that, if you really want to sample this music for commercial purposes, and you're confident in your ability to persuade us that you're not one of Satan's minions, get in touch and we'll discuss the finer details of selling out... I mean, licensing.
-Noise
***
The Theme
Composed and performed by:
Gregory Straathof, David Lamden, Rob Gilliland, Mike Toscarelli
Featuring:
Sophie Sanford, Richard Wong, Audrey Houle, Matt Emig, Gremislav Iako)))vich
Engineered by:
Gregory Straathof, Rob Gilliland, Mike Toscarelli
Edited and mixed by:
Gregory Straathof
Mastered by:
James Plotkin
The tracks of this album are published under a Creative Commons licence, check the licence associated to each track.
Reviews for "The Theme"
26 reviews
De la force et de la richesse, un jeu de guitare qui fait décoller, un voyage hallucinant aux dimensions psychés et aux connotations orientales.
Les variations sont trop fortes!
Le quotidien vous ennuie, alors écoutez cet album!!
PS: avis aux "Myspaciens":http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=52180295
La fuerza de las guitarras lo hacen un disco muy interesante. Representan una muestra de un nuevo hard rock que busca nuevos lenguajes sin apartarse de la semilla fundamental, como en su caso Negation 1, que me recuerda a King Crimson.
Se pueden mover cómodamente entre varios estilos de rock duro. Aparte, tienen una filosofía propia, de manera que te hacen sentir muy bien estos músicos. Felicidades y Saludos desde Chiapas.
Il serait malhonnête de bouder son plaisir. L'art pour l'art a du bon. Cet album de jazz-rock fusion est absolument incroyable. C'est l'encyclopédie illustrée du son et des cabrioles de la guitare. Le guide des acrobaties aériennes en skate board sans filet. Il ne lui manque que la parole ? Ma foi l'intensité des guitares, basse (au rafales de slap gros qualibre), et batterie (néo rap fait à la main), la rend un peu superflue.
Fraternité Glandul
(merci à Balthaz et Momoka pour cette perle).
this is a very good progressive rock fusion sound with powerful energy; the guitar sound is awesome;
I like the complete album very much!
thank you for putting it here for free!!! it's downloaded already;
thank you glassongs for the tip!
The Theme is the one and only full length album by the False Haruspex enigma. Their influences include everything they've experienced in their collective lives so far, and a startling number of those billions and billions (yes, as a matter of fact that was an intentional reference to Carl Sagan) of influences can be felt/heard at various times throughout this album. It's big music... too big for your silly little iPod earbuds, in fact. It's big music that was meant to be heard on big speakers, with the volume control turned up to the big numbers. It's eclectic music. It's all over the fucking place, but not in a haphazard, disjointed way. The Theme is a strange musical journey, filled with unexpected twists, turns, detours and diversions; but it's also a journey that makes absolute sense once you've reached the final destination. It's a goddamn excellent composition, teeming with top notch ensemble playing. There's impressive musicianship throughout, but not in a flashy, instructional video kind of way. The playing is impressive because that's exactly what the composition demands. Sure, there are a few solos, but not in the same way that there are a few solos on a Dream Theater album. Know what I mean? Of course you do. These guys obviously value the composition above all else, and even the way the album is mixed suggests that to be the case.
Chances are that everyone will have their favourite section(s) of the piece, but it should be noted that, above all else, this is an album. It is a single composition, not simply a collection of songs that happen to occupy the same piece of analog or digital media. It's a composition that deserves to be listened to in its entirety, not in bite-sized pieces. Francis Ford Coppola didn't release Apocalypse Now into theaters as a collection of vignettes, did he? That's because he didn't intend for it to be experienced in three-to-five minute sections, with brief intermissions in between. Same deal with The Theme.
--end pretentious rant about respecting the vision and intentions of the artist whose work you are about to enjoy--
So... lock your doors and windows, pull the blinds, dim the lights, prepare a heroic dose of your hallucinogen of choice and gather up an ample supply of your favorite snacks and beverages; have a piss, then pull up a comfy chair and press play.
buon lavoro
progresive rock...? Who cares! great music, really;]
much better tan older albums...guitar mix, which makes me feeling a bit like in 70'?
Most extraordinary music:)))
Vraiment rien à redire, super son, super mise en place, super arrangement et maitrise instrumentale impressionnante !
Félicitation
Ein Album, wie auch ein Buch, muss ziemlich am Anfang schon packend sein, dass ich weiterhöre / lese. Meine Aufmerksamkeit hat diese Band jedenfalls geweckt. Gitarre wie bei Big Country, Sound leicht Dunkel. Danch wird es leider für mich zu heavy und zu dunkel / hart und agressiv.
Da Musik jedoch Geschmackssache ist, bin ich fair und gebe dem ganzen 6 Punkte. Was mir sehr gefällt ist wie ein Stück ins nächste übergeht. Mich würde noch interessieren was die Band zu sagen hat, also da muss eine Sängerin / Sänger her.
#12 this weekThe Theme 
