Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Uriah Heep
Label: Eagle Records
Released: 1998
Rating: 4/5
After the excellent out-of-the-ordinary “Sea Of Light”, Uriah Heep charged their batteries to the max. The result is another great album, which came out three years after “Sea Of Light” (1995) and which Uriah Heep very cleverly named “Sonic Origami”. The album is the logical continuation of the path Uriah Heep laid out with “Sea Of Light”, so you could say that if “Sonic Origami” had come out before “Sea Of Light”, it would have been the album showered with the praise that its younger brother ended up reaping.
In the second half of the nineties, Uriah Heep were in incredible creative form. On “Sonic Origami” they served up a full 13 tracks, once again dressed to the nines from head to toe. Between Two Worlds, which kicks off the album, immediately signals that we’re dealing with yet another album in the “Sea Of Light” league. It’s a longer track built from several passages and atmospheric shifts, with a ferociously aggressive main riff that positively brims with the Against The Odds energy of the previous album. Melody and rock punch are blended perfectly once again, and the song has become a staple of the band’s live set.
If we really have to slap the label “progressive” on this album, then fine, it’s true. “Sonic Origami” is overall more progressive than “Sea Of Light”. It has longer instrumental passages, especially thanks to Lanzon’s keyboard arrangements, and the keyboards also push much further to the front as an orchestral blanket, tying in effectively with Box’s basic motifs and fanning the drama of the album’s atmosphere. The guys haven’t forgotten the acoustic, mellow parts either, where Shaw’s emotive vocals shine intensely again and Heep deliver a superb coexistence of acoustics and keyboard arrangements. That kind of perfection is captured, for instance, in Heartless Land, which sort of takes the place of Love In Silence from the predecessor, while the acoustic ballad Question is the counterpart to Dream On from “Sea Of Light”. Staying with this contrast between acoustics and rich keyboard arrangements, it’s captured at its best right at the end of the album in Golden Palace, the longest track, with a brilliant mystical keyboard intro that could have been written for a film score. Uriah Heep deliver absolute tightness and top-notch melody here, and the highest marks surely go to Bernie Shaw’s exceptionally warm, soulful, heartfelt vocals. It’s a further sophistication of the great ballad Shelter From The Rain from the middle of the album, which is steeped in the warmth of a floating Hammond sound.
On the other hand, the album also has a dozen punchy rockers, with Box’s expressive riffing keeping all the high-spirited wit of “Sea Of Light”. Change, I Hear Voices, Feels Like, In the Moment and Everything In Life practically compete with each other over the swaggering punch of their main riffs, while Only the Young (with a mild pop detour) can be counted among the best-composed Uriah Heep songs, tailor-made for heavy rotation on busy radio stations. The album’s “ugly duckling” is a phenomenal cover of Survivor’s Across the Miles, which slots delightfully into the rest of the record’s original material.
The band once again delivers production that follows the sound of “Sea Of Light”. It manages to capture great depth and dynamics again, thanks to pronounced contrasts between the instruments and Bernie Shaw’s authoritative vocals placed front and center. And we can’t overlook that every track once again carries the unmistakable magic stamp of multi-part vocal harmonies, something unique to Uriah Heep. Since “Sonic Origami” has a lovely bundle of mellow songs boasting a ton of ornamental prog/art rock keyboard arrangements, it feels even more mystical, and artistically more mature and defined, than its predecessor. It leaves the listener with less rock rampage and more of a sense of sophistication and of further exploring how far the band’s reach can go in melodic flawlessness. “Sonic Origami” is yet another absolute classic from the band, steeped in perfection and that unique Heep magic. “Sea Of Light” for intellectual music purists.
Lineup
Bernie Shaw – vocals
Phil Lanzon – keyboards, backing vocals
Mick Box – guitar, backing vocals
Trevor Bolder – bass guitar, backing vocals
Lee Kerslake – drums, backing vocals
Production
Pip Williams
Track list
1. Between Two Worlds (6:29)
2. I Hear Voices (3:55)
3. Perfect Little Heart (5:17)
4. Heartless Land (4:44)
5. Only The Young (4:43)
6. In The Moment (6:23)
7. Question (5:26)
8. Change (6:02)
9. Shelter From The Rain (6:10)
10. Everything In Life (3:15)
11. Across The Miles (5:13)
12. Feels Like (4:37)
13. The Golden Palace (8:29)
BONUS TRACK ON THE SPECIAL EDITION:
14. Sweet Pretender (4:50)
Album length: 75:33
