Roger Dean fans, rejoice! Emerge from the depths of your basement; take a break from practising polyrhythms and cursing Genesis before Phil Collins started singing, for the dawning of a new era of prog rock is upon us! With a bevy of multitudinous riffs and a litany of euphonious harmonies, Edmonton’s (probably) youngest prog band, the Tylor Dory Trio, has arrived!
Jokes aside, what the Tylor Dory Trio brings is a breath of fresh air to a music scene that is deeply rooted in (and sometimes a little too tied to) specific genres of metal. With rich, technically proficient music, this band is an outlier among outliers in progressive metal – a genre that isn’t new but could be considered unusual in the Edmonton music scene. Formerly known as Illusive Man, the Tylor Dory Trio features drummer Jonathan Webster, bassist and backing vocalist Slava Fedossenko and, of course, Tylor Dory on guitar and vocals. These three are bringing a brand of progressive metal/rock to Edmonton that is unique and interesting in its focus on dense, heady music coupled with lush production that creates an overall absorbing experience.
Since starting in 2013, the Tylor Dory Trio have since shared the stage with acts such as Ninjaspy, The Order of Chaos and Tesseract (UK), On the inspiration for and content of their new four-track EP Carried Away, drummer Jonathan Webster said: “The songs on Carried Away are some of the first that we wrote together as a three piece and really capture the dark, moody and more complex elements of the band. They embrace both the high and low energy of progressive music as well as some of the brutality of metal with a sense of melody that binds it all together.
We definitely pay homage to our influences here but tried to do so in a way that it stands on its own, rather than in the shadow of those influences. As well, we were able to work with some of the best names in the international progressive/metal scene along the way and are very excited to share our labour of love with you.” The band wears its influences like a badge of honour and takes pride in the fact that it draws from quite a wide range of inspiration – from Rush to Alice In Chains, Tool to Devin Townsend. The intention of the group is to create non-genre specific music drawing from all realms of influence – metal, progressive, grunge and anything else that inspires them. This mix of diverse musical influences coalesces into a band that is perhaps greater than the sum of its parts and, at the very least, is certainly an interesting listen.
Carried Away was released on Friday, Sept. 25 and is available for purchase on iTunes. This local band is currently recording a follow-up to be mixed and mastered by Christer-André Cederberg starting later this year. You can follow and like the Tylor Dory Trio on Facebook and Twitter for more updates, listen on Soundcloud, or visit their website at tylordorytrio.com!
Thorbjorn Albrightson
