Prog4you.com - Progressive Rock Review - Citizen Cane

: : REVIEW : :

“Seek the energy being in you, for it is you. The flesh and mind are not! Those belong to something else. Darkness.”

These last couple of sentences in the liner notes preface titled “Playing Dead” epitomize lyric writer (and cover artist) Cyrus’ philosophy that we can never really know that we are alive and living just because we were told we are, and thus believes that he has only been “Playing Dead”. A deep concept for your average Joe to even attempt to consider, but then again, Citizen Cain's music is not meant for Joe. I don’t pretend to understand every reference to ancient history and mythology used here, making Citizen Cain agonizingly difficult to fully comprehend unless you are some kind of scholar in these matters. Philosophers could debate endlessly over all the references to dark and light, the grave, the beast, God, dreams, and the nature of man without agreeing on where Cyrus is coming from. (Cain refers to the man having the distinction as the first to commit murder as written in The Bible, revealing his self-destructive nature).

Alrighty then, the album itself. I will try not to dwell on the tired Genesis clone claims, although to be fair to those who are not familiar with Citizen Cain, it must be stated that the influence is strong. Cyrus’ voice is uncannily similar to Gabriel’s, but how can you criticize someone’s voice for sounding like someone else’s? That’s genetics, folks. He might consider it a curse of sorts due to the inevitable comparison, but I find Cyrus a resurrection of one of the voices that first turned me on to progressive rock.

Guitarist Phil Allen and keyboardist/drummer Stewart Bell create many layers and textures, surrounded by a dark undertone throughout. “Playing Dead” involves a complex arrangement of varying time changes by the instrumentals between (as well as during) the verses, distinguishing it from much of the early Genesis works. Prog fans who prefer (and expect) a large dose of technical dynamic changes may consider Citizen Cain the modern evolution of pre-mainstream Genesis, but in my view it can interfere with the flow so that the vocals become almost recitative, deferring to the instrumentals and thereby losing its power to evoke emotion in the listener. Call me an old fogey, but I still prefer the old stuff. I must mention the one magnificent light-hearted moment on this CD on track #6 “Inner Silence”, which starts out with dark, brooding keyboards, and then none other than Monty Python’s Eric Idle utters his famous line “And now for something completely different”, returning to fast- paced instrumental work. Brilliant!

This CD has been in the works for almost five years, mainly due to defections or dismissals of previous band members and trouble finding adequate guitarists and drummers in Scotland, which apparently is not a hotbed for progressive rock. Multitalented stalwarts Cyrus and Bell have found an accomplished guitarist (acoustic and electric) in Phil Allen.

My mind tells me to give “Playing Dead” a very high score due to it’s highly artistic and exploratory level (and yes, it’s reminiscence of old Genesis), but my heart tells me it’s a bit too dark for my taste. Still, 8.5 keyboards isn’t chopped liver.

Rating: 8.5 keyboards
Reviewed by: Rick Woodward 6/6/03

Visit the artist website: http://www.citizen-cain.com/

Check out the Citizen Cain MP3
'Sleeping In Penumbra'
available on our MP3 page

: : Credits : :
All music: by Bell & Cyrus.
All lyrics: by Cyrus.

: : Discography : :
Serpents In Camouflage (1993)
Somewhere But Yesterday (1995)
Ghost Dance (1996)
Raising The Stones (1997)
Playing Dead (2002)

Email the band - able@citizen-cain.com