I hate clichés. I spend my life trying to avoid them, but sometimes you just have to admit defeat and start from the most obvious place. With “The Archaeoptimist,” that place is the title cut itself. All 20 minutes of it. It’s astonishing.
Spock’s Beard have always thrived on complexity, but this is something else entirely: a labyrinthine journey that mutates from science-fiction soundscapes to funk-drenched swagger, from heavy, nightmarish descent into bright harmony. It’s like 15 ideas stitched into one—and the miracle is that it all works. It’s Spock’s through and through: huge, cinematic, and delivered with those harmonies and keys that no one else on earth can replicate.
“Invisible” sets the tone early, all shimmering melody and those uniquely Spock’s textures. The band are dazzling, sometimes disorientating, but always accessible.
Then “Electric Monk” lands the first gut punch, offering the line: “your faith might move mountains but plainly that’s not the best shot you got.” It feels immense, because everything around it is sculpted to feel epic—as if the soundtrack in your head has suddenly flicked into widescreen.
“Afourthoughts” and “St. Jerome in The Wilderness” underline just how good this band are. The skill level is absurd, but it’s never indulgence for its own sake. The melodies are so strong, the pull so irresistible, that even when an a cappella section appears—something only Spock’s Beard would dare attempt—it feels completely natural before the track casually slips into jazz.
There’s groove, but there’s also poetry. Even the guitar lines avoid behaving like anyone else’s, twisting and shimmering around motifs that other bands would flatten.
And then there’s “Next Step,” which opens with what might as well be a concerto. Ryo Okumoto’s fingerprints are everywhere across this record, shaping its identity from the foundations up. By the time this final track ends, it feels like the credits rolling on a film you’re not quite ready to leave.
It’s very, very prog indeed—but prog in the original sense: progression. Where some bands, 30 years in, might settle for reheating yesterday’s leftovers, Spock’s Beard continue to boldly go wherever they damn well please. “The Archaeoptimist” is proof that they are still pushing, still exploring, still finding new galaxies to map.
RATING: 8.5/10
