ScienceNV Reviews

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What critics are saying about The Quest for Prester John, Volumes One and Two

"This [The Quest for Prester John] expansive set of music covers wide stylistic ground, spanning big prog-rock arrangements worthy of Yes or Genesis, angular complexity reminiscent of King Crimson, progressive folk rock like Strawbs or Jethro Tull, meditative near-ambient interludes, and modern chamber music...Musicianship is of a very high caliber, especially among the instrumentalists, with a tight rhythm section, excellent guitar work (both acoustic and electric), tons of lovely vintage keyboard parts, and lovely additions for strings and woodwinds here and there...For listeners who love the grandeur and power of classic prog but aren’t looking for warmed-over clichés, both volumes on Prester John are essential."

"...The structure of the work, which required a long and serious work of over two years with passages in numerous recording studios, is dominated by two very long suites...a first volume supported in a clear and decisive manner by keyboards, sounds and symphonic structures... [to]...The second volume [which] opens directly in the long suite "Roderick's Tale" and its seven portions... The suite is, like the previous one, quite eventful between more relaxed and quiet moments and other more explosive instruments... "On the road from Acre", for expressive force and dynamism and the final portion "A Good Man Goes Home" that shifts accents on themes imbued with a certain epicity typical of new prog forms and we cannot hide that we have glimpsed broad Marillionian themes in this last step of the suite...[End of a Legend features] A nice flute solo with typically seventies sounds, a sung and suffused section and a return to the initial weaving lead to making it one of the most interesting pieces of the second CD, until the moment of the final sung that closes the fantastic narrated adventures...." (Google translate)

"...ingenuity and certain autonomy can not be denied"

"Science NV has always stood out as a feast for devoted progressive rock fans. Their latest release, a two volume set entitled The Quest for Prester John, reaffirms their status as one of the more forward thinking practitioners of the style working today and expands their conceptual and musical ambitions in a breathtaking way."

"...This album is succinctly a progressive rock piece...A fusion [of] Peter Gabriel, Syd Barrett, and Ian Anderson."

"...highly recommended to fans of pure prog and keyboard-based music"

"[The Quest for Prestor John Volume One is]...a very ambitious project! And the result was worth the wait!...it’s a modern release from a band that has revisited with passion a time where everything was musically possible."

"The Quest for Prester John – Volume 2 is a musical journey of intoxicating epic-scale Prog that delivers an “E” ticket ride."

"...they capture the feel of the great 70s prog movement and, for that alone, I would recommend this record."

"[The Quest for Prestor John Volume Two is]...“a killer album that follows an equally remarkable effort on the first volume.”

"...a wealth of vocal-centric and progressive fusion instrumentals, The Quest For Prester John – Volume 1 is like a giant sonic onion with many layers that makes it all the more fascinating to work through it all."

"The more I listened to this album, the more I felt quite enthralled by it, as it is just so very different to everything else I listen to."

What critics are saying about The Last Album Before the End of Time

[ScienceNV] can toss pretty much any stylistic twist into its pungent all-instrumental prog salad and get away with it, given its deft command of the requisite chops and vision to maintain a cool cohesiveness.

The piece de resistance is the 15 minute take on the Ring Cycle. A very enjoyable and varied album.

I seem to be in prog rock heaven with so many good albums from this genre being released. The latest album I'm loving to bits is 'The Last Album Before the End of Time'.

All in all, "Last Album Before the End of Time" is an impressive piece of work from a band that could have great crossover appeal to fans of prog or jazz rock, or, I would suspect, any "muso" types who can appreciate the intricacies of the playing and arrangements.

Bold, ambitious and thoroughly out of fashion, ‘the last album before the end of time’ is a brilliant piece of work that belongs in any progressive fans collection. It is simply brilliant and even the simple act of reviewing the disc has been an unmitigated pleasure from start to finish. Challenge your senses today and track down Science NV, they won’t disappoint you.

Progressive rock band ScienceNV takes the listener on a wondrous trip crossing musical borders on its 2013 album ... On ‘Cold Sleep’ the band takes into deep space, with hypnotic loops, space guitar, and ambient atmospheres. Truly delightful; one of the best cuts on the album.

...the band take on one of the most recognisable pieces of classical music, Holst's Mars - The Bringer Of War. Although this number has been tackled by numerous bands, notably King Crimson, very few have remained true to the original score, just taking the original opening riff as a launch pad and developing things from there. In contrast, Science NV stay true to the original melodies and interplays providing the full electronic colour palette. The arrangement is startlingly good with layers of keyboards replicating the various sections of the orchestra with the necessary powerful drums forming the bed upon which everything else lies. If all you know of this piece is the opening ostinato then you need to hear the full rendition on this album

[the] very impressive suite "The Ring Cycle", [is] dynamic, fickle, always moving and very clean in its development; the brilliant "Curved space" [is] played on the beautiful polyrhythms and [has] sonic aspects [the] Canterbury [school] (Originally in Italian)

Last Album – Before the End of Time carries on the band’s approach of musical humour with another great set of instrumental compositions. There’s kind of a Frank Zappa vibe present here in so much as the band doesn’t take their music too seriously. The performance is spot-on and it sounds great, what I mean is that they don’t seem to take themselves too seriously. The fact they’re having fun really comes through in the music. By all means prog fans should check’em out.

This is new, fresh, daring and very exciting. With well over an hour of brilliant space travel, which includes prog tendencies a la early Pink Floyd and hints of Gentle Giant, Spacey themes and jazzy encounters, plus a rendition of classical composer Holst´ s "Mars". What could go wrong? Nothing, at least not with this band, they´re brilliant all the way through !! This is top drawer instrumental prog /space rock....This album goes to my top 10 of the year list

References to Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Camel, ELP ... or Yes, ply the sound spaces of this third [album], presented in a very direct and exemplary execution. It may sound too technical, what remains warm [is] the final product. A product that is masterfully played, [ScienceNV] are virtuosos of their instruments, and will delight all fans of progressive rock in general. (Originally in Spanish)

Overall this is a very solid and musically well-crafted set of songs, showcasing the talents of some very gifted performers who have been into jazz and fusion for a long time and know how to express themselves. ScienceNV is a very good ensemble that this reviewer will listen to many times over. If you like jazz and/or progressive-rock, this is definitely an album you want to get.

To really get the big picture one must take it all in at once, but the tracks all have their individual potential on their own as the singles prove. It comes highly recommended to not only prog rockers, but I can even see jazz rock fusion lovers getting into this, it's that diverse and that brilliant in every way.

ScienceNV is much more concerned with the creation of a cohesive and coherent album, as evidenced by the placement of the nine-plus minute opus Mars as the opener. While many bands let longer efforts slip away from their control, there is a laser-like focus to the arrangements created by the guitars, drum, and synthesizers.

...imagine a cross between King Crimson's less pastoral and more frantic time and UK in its original incarnation...Recommended shamelessly (Originally in Swedish)

The floating ambient "Cold Sleep" is another standout, recalling Terry Riley and some of Djam Karet's more dark ambient material, though embellished with several hauntingly beautiful and melodic guitar solos.

the Last Album Before the End of Time, is an ambitious work and a successful synthesis of multiple musical styles. Few bands or performers can convincingly juggle the sheer variety of sound that ScienceNV offers. However, the tremendous intelligence and musicality at work here enables the compositions to cover an immense amount of ground... This is a progressive rock master class, a throwback to an earlier time, and a vital demonstration of what equal parts ambition and skill can achieve.”

"Last Album Before the End of Time" may replace Starbucks as the wake-up way to go...when I heard the opening riffs of "Mars," I was immediately hooked.

Rather than finding a formula and sticking to it, ScienceNV move across a range of styles within the overall template of what may be called prog rock and thereby provide sufficient diversity to keep the listener interested... I was surprised by this album and surprised myself in enjoying it. Normally, prog rock instrumentals bore me to tears, but there was enough in here to keep me occupied and entertained.

It's not often you hear the Good Doctor say this, but [Atmosphere of the Mind] almost put a tear in my eye. What a sweet and wonderful melody, brilliantly embellished with harpsichord, no less. The tune is gentle for most of its length, but towards the end, the pace picks up, rock guitar kicks in and there's even a stretch of electronica. This is quite the atmospheric closer...Wormwood Chronicles

What critics said about Pacific Circumstances

	The band's sound is solidly in the progressive rock camp...there's a lot of variety here. both in stylistically diverse compositions and in the band's sonic palette...repeated plays will reward.
	“Pacific Circumstances” is an excellent album, deserving many spins; and ScienceNV is one of the best bands to show up at this webzine – creative and brilliant, being highly recommended for fans of vintage Symphonic Prog.
	"Moments of classic inspiration are melded to the English progressive tradition...Brazillian sauce, complex jazz-rock, and sonorous tapestries that can be anyplace between ambient and space rock..." (in Italian)
	Serving up 70 minutes of instrumental music is not an easy task...Science NV have managed it with aplomb.
	This is clever music, played by literally clever people...in a funny way which sounds good, very good... a varied and surprisingly interesting album from an interesting band. 4/5 stars
	"Pacific Circumstances has a little bit of something for everyone, but most of all I’m always impressed with ScienceNV’s ability to have fun and project it through their music... This is a nice step up on their first disc and shows them really mastering a personal sonic style... If you haven’t checked’em out yet, don’t hesitate any longer. It’s a real treasure."
	Rating: 8/10 – A good album for those who like their music to be challenging. “Quadrapole” is a good example of something completely original. No one is making music quite like this. It is good original music which invites you to experiment along with the band on new variations to the theme of their music. This is a good follow up to their earlier album. Full of new journeys inside the mind.
	"...It’s a great follow up and one of the stronger albums of 2010. Considering the quality of music coming out this year, that says a lot."
	"[Morning Jump] jumps all over the place, keeping the variety alive and the interest level of your audience high...a compelling ideas and an energetic arrangement."

What Critics Said About Really Loud Noises
	"[T]his band knows how to make instrumental music very interesting. They add allot of variation and keep the pace moving with special effects. They add layers of instruments progressively, keeping the listener wondering what will come next." 8/10!
	This has got to be the most outrageously intriguing album I listen to lately. Each song smacks you in the head until you are left in a state of utter disbelief....I recognize ScienceNV as having a huge potential. I recommend “Really Loud Noises”. Once they decide to do something, these guys do it masterfully....Eddie Lascu
	...[Really Loud Noises is] fusion oriented instrumental prog, but they run the gamut from nearly metallic sounds to pure jazz and classical. If you like adventurous instrumental music this will be your thing...
	Fun little CD-R by four American gentleman, all being scientists, hence, the name of the band. You clearly hear their pleasure in making the music... Track two, is clearly a successful cover from Ravel’s Bolero, done mostly on keyboards by half of the quartet. All in all, a nice version of this classic..My personal favorite is track Number Five that starts with easy piano play, and afterwards the drum kit gets lightly stroked with the brushes. A nice guitar lick gives this good instrumental a finish...Eigen Bheer
	"Progressive in its broadest sense, structured [the] ten tracks give us a listen very pleasant and changing, [with] jumping off rock symphonic cues classics, Yes, EL & P, jazz rock and fusion..."
	"Science NV, a group that write and perform out of the love of music rather than as a career option have certainly come up with a varied and impressive album. The playing throughout is excellent and each of the tracks has something different to offer."
	"The music of ScienceNV is never boring but humble and above all passionate"
	"... instrumental music is about as infectious as the bubonic plague! All I can say is don’t listen to this or you’ll be hooked! ...[Really Loud Noises]... is well performed, the musicianship is top-notch, it’s well recorded, sounds great and when it’s all said and done it just sounds brilliant! The compositions are so varied and so engaging..."

	"This [The Quest for Prester John] expansive set of music covers wide stylistic ground, spanning big prog-rock arrangements worthy of Yes or Genesis, angular complexity reminiscent of King Crimson, progressive folk rock like Strawbs or Jethro Tull, meditative near-ambient interludes, and modern chamber music...Musicianship is of a very high caliber, especially among the instrumentalists, with a tight rhythm section, excellent guitar work (both acoustic and electric), tons of lovely vintage keyboard parts, and lovely additions for strings and woodwinds here and there...For listeners who love the grandeur and power of classic prog but aren’t looking for warmed-over clichés, both volumes on Prester John are essential."
	"...The structure of the work, which required a long and serious work of over two years with passages in numerous recording studios, is dominated by two very long suites...a first volume supported in a clear and decisive manner by keyboards, sounds and symphonic structures... [to]...The second volume [which] opens directly in the long suite "Roderick's Tale" and its seven portions... The suite is, like the previous one, quite eventful between more relaxed and quiet moments and other more explosive instruments... "On the road from Acre", for expressive force and dynamism and the final portion "A Good Man Goes Home" that shifts accents on themes imbued with a certain epicity typical of new prog forms and we cannot hide that we have glimpsed broad Marillionian themes in this last step of the suite...[End of a Legend features] A nice flute solo with typically seventies sounds, a sung and suffused section and a return to the initial weaving lead to making it one of the most interesting pieces of the second CD, until the moment of the final sung that closes the fantastic narrated adventures...." (Google translate)
	"...ingenuity and certain autonomy can not be denied"
	"Science NV has always stood out as a feast for devoted progressive rock fans. Their latest release, a two volume set entitled The Quest for Prester John, reaffirms their status as one of the more forward thinking practitioners of the style working today and expands their conceptual and musical ambitions in a breathtaking way."
	"...This album is succinctly a progressive rock piece...A fusion [of] Peter Gabriel, Syd Barrett, and Ian Anderson."
	"...highly recommended to fans of pure prog and keyboard-based music"
	"[The Quest for Prestor John Volume One is]...a very ambitious project! And the result was worth the wait!...it’s a modern release from a band that has revisited with passion a time where everything was musically possible."
	*"The Quest for Prester John – Volume 2* is a musical journey of intoxicating epic-scale Prog that delivers an “E” ticket ride."
	"...they capture the feel of the great 70s prog movement and, for that alone, I would recommend this record."
	"[The Quest for Prestor John Volume Two is]...“a killer album that follows an equally remarkable effort on the first volume.”
	"...a wealth of vocal-centric and progressive fusion instrumentals, The Quest For Prester John – Volume 1 is like a giant sonic onion with many layers that makes it all the more fascinating to work through it all."
	"The more I listened to this album, the more I felt quite enthralled by it, as it is just so very different to everything else I listen to."

	[ScienceNV] can toss pretty much any stylistic twist into its pungent all-instrumental prog salad and get away with it, given its deft command of the requisite chops and vision to maintain a cool cohesiveness.
	The piece de resistance is the 15 minute take on the Ring Cycle. A very enjoyable and varied album.
	I seem to be in prog rock heaven with so many good albums from this genre being released. The latest album I'm loving to bits is 'The Last Album Before the End of Time'.
	All in all, "Last Album Before the End of Time" is an impressive piece of work from a band that could have great crossover appeal to fans of prog or jazz rock, or, I would suspect, any "muso" types who can appreciate the intricacies of the playing and arrangements.
	Bold, ambitious and thoroughly out of fashion, ‘the last album before the end of time’ is a brilliant piece of work that belongs in any progressive fans collection. It is simply brilliant and even the simple act of reviewing the disc has been an unmitigated pleasure from start to finish. Challenge your senses today and track down Science NV, they won’t disappoint you.
	Progressive rock band ScienceNV takes the listener on a wondrous trip crossing musical borders on its 2013 album ... On ‘Cold Sleep’ the band takes into deep space, with hypnotic loops, space guitar, and ambient atmospheres. Truly delightful; one of the best cuts on the album.
	...the band take on one of the most recognisable pieces of classical music, Holst's Mars - The Bringer Of War. Although this number has been tackled by numerous bands, notably King Crimson, very few have remained true to the original score, just taking the original opening riff as a launch pad and developing things from there. In contrast, Science NV stay true to the original melodies and interplays providing the full electronic colour palette. The arrangement is startlingly good with layers of keyboards replicating the various sections of the orchestra with the necessary powerful drums forming the bed upon which everything else lies. If all you know of this piece is the opening ostinato then you need to hear the full rendition on this album
	[the] very impressive suite "The Ring Cycle", [is] dynamic, fickle, always moving and very clean in its development; the brilliant "Curved space" [is] played on the beautiful polyrhythms and [has] sonic aspects [the] Canterbury [school] (Originally in Italian)
	Last Album – Before the End of Time carries on the band’s approach of musical humour with another great set of instrumental compositions. There’s kind of a Frank Zappa vibe present here in so much as the band doesn’t take their music too seriously. The performance is spot-on and it sounds great, what I mean is that they don’t seem to take themselves too seriously. The fact they’re having fun really comes through in the music. By all means prog fans should check’em out.
	This is new, fresh, daring and very exciting. With well over an hour of brilliant space travel, which includes prog tendencies a la early Pink Floyd and hints of Gentle Giant, Spacey themes and jazzy encounters, plus a rendition of classical composer Holst´ s "Mars". What could go wrong? Nothing, at least not with this band, they´re brilliant all the way through !! This is top drawer instrumental prog /space rock....This album goes to my top 10 of the year list
	References to Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, Camel, ELP ... or Yes, ply the sound spaces of this third [album], presented in a very direct and exemplary execution. It may sound too technical, what remains warm [is] the final product. A product that is masterfully played, [ScienceNV] are virtuosos of their instruments, and will delight all fans of progressive rock in general. (Originally in Spanish)
	Overall this is a very solid and musically well-crafted set of songs, showcasing the talents of some very gifted performers who have been into jazz and fusion for a long time and know how to express themselves. ScienceNV is a very good ensemble that this reviewer will listen to many times over. If you like jazz and/or progressive-rock, this is definitely an album you want to get.
	To really get the big picture one must take it all in at once, but the tracks all have their individual potential on their own as the singles prove. It comes highly recommended to not only prog rockers, but I can even see jazz rock fusion lovers getting into this, it's that diverse and that brilliant in every way.
	ScienceNV is much more concerned with the creation of a cohesive and coherent album, as evidenced by the placement of the nine-plus minute opus Mars as the opener. While many bands let longer efforts slip away from their control, there is a laser-like focus to the arrangements created by the guitars, drum, and synthesizers.
	...imagine a cross between King Crimson's less pastoral and more frantic time and UK in its original incarnation...Recommended shamelessly (Originally in Swedish)
	The floating ambient "Cold Sleep" is another standout, recalling Terry Riley and some of Djam Karet's more dark ambient material, though embellished with several hauntingly beautiful and melodic guitar solos.
	the Last Album Before the End of Time, is an ambitious work and a successful synthesis of multiple musical styles. Few bands or performers can convincingly juggle the sheer variety of sound that ScienceNV offers. However, the tremendous intelligence and musicality at work here enables the compositions to cover an immense amount of ground... This is a progressive rock master class, a throwback to an earlier time, and a vital demonstration of what equal parts ambition and skill can achieve.”
	"Last Album Before the End of Time" may replace Starbucks as the wake-up way to go...when I heard the opening riffs of "Mars," I was immediately hooked.
	Rather than finding a formula and sticking to it, ScienceNV move across a range of styles within the overall template of what may be called prog rock and thereby provide sufficient diversity to keep the listener interested... I was surprised by this album and surprised myself in enjoying it. Normally, prog rock instrumentals bore me to tears, but there was enough in here to keep me occupied and entertained.
	It's not often you hear the Good Doctor say this, but [Atmosphere of the Mind] almost put a tear in my eye. What a sweet and wonderful melody, brilliantly embellished with harpsichord, no less. The tune is gentle for most of its length, but towards the end, the pace picks up, rock guitar kicks in and there's even a stretch of electronica. This is quite the atmospheric closer...Wormwood Chronicles

What Critics Said About Really Loud Noises