Seven Steps to the Green Door

Lars Köhler (voc) Ronny Gruber (voc) Anne Trautmann (voc) Marek Arnold (keys, sax) Eddie Gemeinhardt (guit) Heiko Rehm (bass) Ulf Reinhardt (drums) If a band with its debut album already creams off the first prize in two categories (progressive and experimental) at the German Rock and Pop Awards, the probably biggest and most important band competition in Germany, it definitely is worth it to listen carefully: with the moderate use of cross-genre stylistic devices, an uncommon cast of 3 vocalists, and the courage to melody despite rhythmic experiments, “seven steps to the green door” proof “progressiveness” in the literal sense. The seven-member band around keyboardist & saxophonist Marek Arnold (head of the German progressive metal band “Toxic Smile”, among others) and drummer Ulf Reinhardt (formerly Mother’s Pride & Prophets of Prunes), on their unexpectedly successful first album “the puzzle” already surprised with a wide-variety style mix of art-rock, progressive metal, jazz, rap, and pop. With the new CD, the band now carries things to the extremes – polyrhythmics meets melodious vocal harmonies, crazy jazz phrases cause astonishment following a catchy ballad, raps break through soft melodies – without ever loosing sight of the golden thread. Even more clearly than on “the puzzle”, the rousing force of a perfect vocal harmony of the 3 vocalists, who are also able to convince as soloists, shows to advantage, rousing grooves and rich rhythm guitars meet lyrical elements, and modern loops meet sound classics (piano, moog, hammond, rhodes). Additionally, various guests add highlights at classic instruments and with vocals, like for example “Stern-Combo-Meissen” and “Toxic Smile” lead singer Larry B. Thus, “step in 2 my world” (thematically, the album above all deals with the withdrawal of the people into their own “microcosm”) will delight above all fans of varied rock music, who even after numerous times of listening still want to discover something new. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.