For those of you who think that all is not well in the world of symphonic progressive rock, I’m here to tell you, nothing could be further from the truth. This has become my mantra in recent days…forget what you’ve heard, symphonic prog is alive and well. Evidence of this fact is born out not only by the number of new release but the overall high quality that they display. Take for example the third and latest release from Man On Fire entitled Habitat.

From the moment I heard the first cut entitled “The Block” on the ProgRock Records sampler, the buzzing, analog sounding synthesizers had me hooked, line and sinker. The driving introductions sounds cascading into a thick sawtooth waveform just made me want to listen to that track over and over again…so imagine how satisfying it was to hear the finished album with the added bonus of Adrian Belew on guitars and David Ragsdale on violins. These two along with original band members Jeff Hodges, Eric Sands and Rob Sindon have taken the Man on Fire sound to yet another level. Lyrics once again are provided by Steve Carroll.

Habitat is a concept CD that tells 13 stories revolving around the various individuals living within this fictional city space. Each of the tracks is devoted to telling that persons story and is separated by a series of sound effects intended to convey the sounds of urban dwelling. Most of the compositions run just over five minutes with three at six minutes and the longest being the title track at just over eight minutes. But while the songs may not be overly long, the arrangements and song structures are magical. Man on Fire’s music is composed by Hodges and he has the uncanny ability to inject just the right amount of complexity in the arrangements to keep a composition always interesting and never boring. But there is yet another aspect to the music and that is that the more familiar you become with each of the pieces rather than becoming boring they unfold like flowers displaying more and more hidden emotions. Many of the songs feature fascinating musical motifs from a variety of instruments like the neat little keyboard/violin interplay in “What the Canvas Hides.” Each song is not only a gem of story telling, they’re also packed with an engaging musicality that draws you back over and over.

The music itself takes a very modern approach to progressive rock that could easily sit well beside bands such as Porcupine Tree or those current media darlings Coldplay but where Man on Fire leave bands like Coldplay in the dust is what else they inject into the music which is squarely from the symphonic side of progressive rock. Many of the compositions feature a striking almost techno rhythm with some great analog sounding synthesizers laid up against some amazing fretless bass all supported by Belew’s angular guitar soundscapes and Ragsdale’s violin textures. Habitat is satisfying on just about any measurement score. It’s a shame more of their music isn’t heard on mainstream radio. Everyone I’ve played this for has absolutely loved it and I think you will too. Consider Man on Fire’s Habitat a solid winner.

Review by Jerry Lucky
August 31, 2005