Rolling Stone, April 2010
Rating: 3 Star
LUCID EXPERIMENTS
Band get in touch with their prog-rock side on debut record
For a debut album, Lucid Recess cuts a well-primed, sharp, surprisingly well produced
record, chock full of nifty guitar lines and crisp riffs. On Engraved Invitation,
the Guwahati-based band keeps the alt-metal plot (‘The Purpose,’ ‘Socially Active
Warrior’ and ‘The Tribe’) in mind but frequently indulges its post-grunge/prog rock
tendencies (‘Lost’, ’Colourful ‘Déjà Vu’, ‘Feel Like Human’ and ‘Cant Help Me’) as
well. As much as this fluidity in switching between genres is noteworthy, Lucid Recess
works a more remarkable set with its prog rock template, with all kinds of variations
explored within this mould.
They display an intelligent ear for finishing touches, like the lush, melancholy-driven
strings on “Feel Like Human’ and the minimalist strain of the organ on “Can’t Help
Me’ – it turns out to be a great canvas for this trio. A change of drummer has done
the band plenty good, and vocalist Amit Barooah keeps quality in check, but the knight
in shining armour is guitarist Siddharth Barooah on this one. Siddharth packs in
some stellar work on both guitars and production, and is easily the stand out of
this record. His twisted take on riffs (‘What’s It To Me’), wicked, rebellious licks
reminiscent of Tool (‘The Tribe’) and crushing solos (‘Time To Change’, ‘B.Y.T.C’)
are standout features of this splendidly produced record.
- Neha Sharma
