By its very nature, prog rock is complex, and the fans love that level of indulgence. ‘More Than Meets The Eye’ by multi-instrumentalist/songwriter John DeMena takes that to extremes, but manages to convey a feeling of an artist actually using his musical talents to progress, rather than just wheeling out some obvious Yes-isms or some outdated and misguided tribute to Gentle Giant.
The track’s intro presents a steady programmed beat, supplying an ominous pulse. DeMena immediately contrasts this with a sparse, and surprisingly lovely piano melody that echoes a couple of old Vangelis soundtracks. Rather than really capitalising on this mellow mood, he then throws the listener into a world of melodic metal where a busy lead guitar is quickly offset by a riff with a heavy groove. It has all the hallmarks of a great instrumental, but the performer then takes another twist by sharing a vocal that would be more at ease on a melodic rock number with a harder edge.
Given a couple of minutes to settle, though, this works well, and gives John’s sometimes angular sound a more melodic hook. Except he’s clearly not content with that, and chooses to steer the number into a completely different direction for a lengthy instrumental break where muted guitar sounds pave the way for a genuinely impressive and complex drum part (easily the highlight of the track), before venturing somewhere more old school via a self-indulgent, Jordan Rudess inspired keyboard solo that goes full on prog for the sake of it. A lot of people who are invested in DeMena’s sound by this point, of course, are likely to enjoy this too, even though it feels a little at odds with the excellent drum part and prominent vocal.
John is multi-talented and clearly knows his way around a great arrangement. The upshot of this is that, even at over six minutes, ‘More Than Meets The Eye’ never drags. Each movement takes the listener somewhere different, yet at the same time, has a fairly natural flow. In terms of “contemporary prog”, this is a great listen.
Check out the full track below.