Brain Forest Thought Horizon
E-mail: sprawlingprod@home.com

Brain Forest is a progressive band lead by Paul Kollar (bass, guitar, mellotron), best known for his work with the sublime (though under-rated) late 70's prog band St. Elmo's Fire. Although this tape-release comes 15 years after St. Elmo's one and only album, it strangely sounds much more dated. However, it is still quite worthwhile, especially for fans of Elmo. Kollar seems to split the leadership role with Phillip le Frois (guitars, mellotron, keyboards); both have one instrumental song and one vocal song to their credit. The vocal songs seem to be the weaker, and the instrumentals the place for the band to showcase their intense and lush Crimsoid attack. While all the songs are very stylistically similar, the vocal songs have an odd, dated quality. The vocal delivery is quite good, but I kept thinking to myself that the songs themselves would have probably sounded better in the 70's (despite the 1995 recording!). With some people this is, if anything, a bonus, but it wasn't one for me (despite the enormous amount of 70's music I like). The instrumentals are superb, showcasing soaring guitar lines, mellotron washes, and most of the classic 70's prog-rock moves. While they don't really expand any on the style, they pull it off quite well. Bottom line: Recommended for prog fans who like a retro-seventies sound, and of course for fans of St. Elmo's Fire. ~Jon Murphree~