2024 Number 5: Barock Project

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 5
Barock Project - Time Voyager

I hear you like symphonic progressive rock. Well, have I got an album for you.

Barock Project started off as a typical Italo-prog group, but they switched to English early on in their career. I'm not familiar with their previous work, but it's obvious I've been missing something. This is the kind of album on which everything goes right.

From the grand opening onwards, it's obvious that there's masters at work. They have it down to a fine art form, exactly the right sounds at exactly the right moment. Bombastic or playful, simple or complex, a breather at exactly the right time. A nod to Genesis here, a bit that sounds like Queen there, a perfectly tasty organ solo, a folky bit, a rocky bit, everything is put together so expertly that they almost make it seem too easy. It's a long album but it positively flies by.

It's almost impossible to be at all interested in prog rock and not be impressed by this album in some capacity. It hits the exact sweet spot with such expert precision that, actually, I find I have kept it at an arms length. I do that with albums that are too good. This is music that serves my every whim, maybe I want to be challenged.

In fact, this album probably would have made it into the top three, if not for the fact that they're using AI images as cover art. Lame lame lame! Lame, and unethical, too. There's such a dedication to craftsmanship on display on the musical front, the disdain for the visual arts is heartbreaking. On the list of things musicians should stop doing, that is number one.

In fact, as an aside, I'm less than impressed by most of the cover images on my list. What happened to the Mark Wilkinsons, Roger Deans and Storm Thorgersons of this world? I know that, with the end of physical media, cover art has become less important, but does that mean we can't be arsed to pay a proper artist at all anymore? Surely there's some added value left to actual artwork? 

Time Voyager is a very fine album that is sorely undersold by its own cover.