I had been looking forward to The Windmill’s new album for some time now, but the years were passing by and nothing was happening. They finally released “Tribus” 5 years after the exceptional “The Continuation”, and they proved once more that it’s better to “speak” when you have something to say than do it with no reason.
The music influences by Jethro Tull, Camel, Arena, IQ, Marillion, Pendragon, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Alan Parsons, The Flower Kings and so on are all here again… all filtered up by the band’s ability to write stuff that has their own character and style. The production is tighter and more focused than before. Certainly, Karl Groom (Threshold) played a crucial part on that, as he is the responsible for the album’s mixing and mastering.
The Windmill are not afraid to open their album with their longest track, “The Tree” (around 24 minutes long), which is also the most epic, experimental and progressive (in the actual term of the word) track here.
“The Storm” is a wonderful atmospheric instrumental track, which lasts around 10 minutes and has that “magic” Jethro feeling as well.
“Dendrophenia” is a straightforward rock track (around 4 & half minutes) that has some great bass lines and Hammond atmosphere.
“Make Me Feel” is an arty prog song that has both elements from the 70s and from the neoprog era. The refined melodies along with the moody atmosphere have made the track very enthralling on the whole. The guitar leads are also wonderful. It’s impossible not to sing along while listening to this song…
The last track, “Play with Fire”, is a short track, which lasts around 4 and a half minutes, that starts smoothly with a very beautiful melody on flute. A remarkably melodic and vibrant track on the whole.
The only sad thing regarding “Tribus” is the passing of the band’s drummer Sam Arne Nøland (RIP), before the album release as he never managed to listen to the final outcome. He did, however, manage to finish all the drum recordings before he got too ill, and that requires a great inner strength and power.
By and large I thought that it was a tough task to release something equal or better than their previous album, but The Windmill is a truly gifted band that has progressive music on its blood. It’s really weird that none of the “big” music labels has signed them yet. “Tribus” is one of the most melodic and creative prog rock albums that you’ll come across this year… and it beats almost all the releases of the genre especially the ones by the big bands.
