CHAIN REAKTOR

Homesick FREIA MUSIC

Dutch family affair marries modern prog with a melodic and metallic sheen.

Featuring brothers Bart and Arjen Laan on guitar/vocals and drums respectively, plus dad Erik on vocals and keyboards, Homesick is a massively assured debut.

Ostensibly, the album is concerned with the “gloomy loneliness that overshadows modern life”, but that doesn’t mean the music is unremittingly downbeat, sombre or depressing.

From opener The Day That Never Came – with its clever combination of Stranger Things theme-alike sequenced keys and insistent Middle Eastern percussion, which builds into a varied yet very contemporary-sounding combination of crunchy guitar riffing, anthemic vocal hooks, and flute and keyboard solo interludes – through to Lonely City’s gorgeous intro and the dark funk of much of Stop Yelling, the band play around with feel and instrumentation, while retaining a strong identity and coherence. The title track is a great example of their range; an acoustic ballad making the transition to powerful rock statement.

There’s room for growth certainly, but this is a confident and impressive debut from Chain Reaktor and one hopes that there’s plenty more to come.