The 1981 Listening Post - Netherworld - In the Following Half-Light

 Reviewed by Paul J Zickler

Released: 1981 Netherworld In The Following Half-Light Genre: Prog Rock Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Highlights: Straight Into Infinity According to the wonderful progarchives.com site, “NETHERWORLD's one and only album In The Following Half-Light contains seven compositions with varied instrumentation, exciting solos and elaborate arrangements.” They were an American prog rock band that formed in 1975 but didn’t release an album until 1981. In the meantime, they played Genesis, King Crimson, and Hendrix covers. After the album failed to do much business, they hung on for 3 years, putting one three-part song on a French prog compilation and then disbanding in ‘84. The Spotify version, just titled Netherworld, includes the original 7 songs, plus the later triptych, Cumulo-Nimbus Parts I, II and III. My personal theory about Prog is that, while there are a limited number of musicians with the commitment and the chops to play complex licks connected to mythological fantasy-based social commentary, the number of singers who can deliver that kind of material memorably is considerably smaller. If you’ve got Geddy Lee or Jon Anderson or Peter Gabriel in your band, your odds of making something musically relevant go way up. The guys in Netherworld sound like talented players, but the vocals are just OK, and sometimes not even that. The first three songs move right along, doing proggy things. I can’t say I find them interesting, but I don’t feel compelled to turn them off. I’ll give Straight Into Infinity highlight status, mostly for musicianship, but also because the kitchen sink arrangement manages to stay under 6 minutes. Unfortunately, Maybe If They Burn Me completely disturbs the flow with some overwrought yelling and whining, coupled with much less inventive solos and silly synth whooshes. If tracks 1 through 3 are boring-but-OK and track 4 is annoying, track 5 falls somewhere in between, with its strummy Jethro Tull opening, 3 minute keyboard solo, King Arthur medieval inserts, and over dramatic last verse. A Matter of Time balances a gentle melody line with some complex chord changes for about 3 minutes, before settling into a mostly simple two chord pattern with so-so solos for the other 5 minutes. The ambitious closer, Sargasso, relies too much on the lead vocalist, whose just OK voice has become tiresome. The story seems to be about a fatal ship voyage under the command of an insane captain, but to me it sounds like someone narrating a bad high school video class project, albeit one with some snazzy guitar licks. The moral of the story is that Prog Rock is really hard. Props to Netherworld for giving it their best shot, but I can’t recommend this one.