Mangrove - More or Less... An Acoustic Evening (2011)

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Mangrove - More or Less... An Acoustic Evening (2011)

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This Dutch prog-rock band took root in '95 when schoolboy friends Roland van der Horst (guitar and vocals) and Joost Hagemeijer (drums and keyboards) teamed up and started to write their own compositions. In '98 they released the album "Cold World" as a project titled Brainstorm. Two years later singer Eric Holdtman joined Roland and Joost, but unfortunately left in 2001 due to personal circumstances. Meanwhile the new band MANGROVE had released their first demo-CD entitled "Massive Hollowness" (2001) with bass guitar player Pieter Drost (who had joined the band earlier that year). Keyboard parts were played by Joost Hagemeijer and Hans van der Linden. Soon after the recording sessions Chris Jonker joined MANGROVE as the new keyboardist. In this line-up MANGROVE released the album "Touch Wood" as its own production in 2004.

The CD "Touch Wood" is a fine example of 24-carat symphonic rock. The nine warm and melodic compositions sound laidback but also contain sumptuous eruptions and fiery accelerations. The music is mid-GENESIS and IQ inspired with soaring keyboards, twanging guitars and decent vocals (often a bit similar to Peter GABRIEL). The rhythm section is solid and the keyboards sound pleasant with some beautiful Mellotron samples. The final song "City of Darkness" (splendid choir-Mellotron and howling guitar) comes mighty close to the best GENESIS, it could have been 'lost material' from "Seconds Out"! A nice try by 'symphomaniacs' who want to make symphonic rock themselves.

In 2005 the band released the album "Facing the Sunset", which contains four compositions (between 10 and 21 minutes) evoking the good old days from mid-GENESIS, early HACKETT solo and early IQ. Especially the wonderful Mellotron samples (produced by a special sophisticated computer program) and the beautiful, very sensitive electric guitar work are strong points in MANGROVE's pleasant symphonic rock sound.

The ten compositions on the 2006 two-disc live CD "Coming Back To Live" sound tasteful, melodic, accessible and contain lots of fluent shifting moods, from dreamy to mid-tempo and from slow rhythms to bombastic eruptions. The keyboard work has strong echoes of Tony BANKS (70-77 GENESIS) featuring excellent choir-Mellotron samples (like "Afterglow" from GENESIS' 'Seconds Out' LP), strong Hammond waves, some Fender Rhodes piano runs en many synthesizer flights (often BANKS his known ARP Pro Solist sound).

Dutch symphonic prog band MANGROVE has proven to be a very pleasant option for progheads who love mid-GENESIS and early MARILLION!

~ progarchives

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Mangrove - More or Less... An Acoustic Evening (2011)

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Mangrove - More or Less... An Acoustic Evening (2011)

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Mangrove - More or Less... An Acoustic Evening (2011)

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