Beardfish is one of the best band names I’ve seen in a while. This Swedish four-piece is an avant-garde progressive rock act that likes to incorporate many styles in their sound. Destined Solitaire is their fifth full length outing, and it got Mike Portnoy asking them to join on the Progressive Nation tour of this year (which didn't happen in the end unfortunately). Let’s see what these Beardfish are about!

Destined Solitaire is quite an adventure to go on. Lengthy songs (sometimes exceeding the ten minute line) that have influences from a huge range of styles, crazy song structures, strange lyrics and a lot of twists and turns that keep you on your toes are spread out over the 76+ minutes record, and none of it is boring. One hears influences from prog, jazz, rock, classical music, metal, sixties, seventies, eighties, it’s all in there brought to you with a huge selection of instruments. Luckily this didn’t turn out as one cacophonous symphony, but Beardfish managed to adopt and exploit all these styles into an interesting and compelling whole. Respect.

 

I have to say that although the sound of the band is not totally my thing, I am very much entertained every time I listen to this record. Vocalist Rikard Sjöblom has a nice sound to listen to and tells pretty crazy stories along the way, which makes the ride even more interesting. Overall I can’t really do much more than praise these guys, so if you dig what is described here please don’t hesitate and check this lot out! If only more progressive rock/metal bands would be as interesting as this…