Sons of Sounds – Soundphonia (Album Review)

Formed in 2006 by the Beselt brothers from Germany, Sons of Sounds are a progressive rock four-piece comprised of Roman Beselt on vocals, Wayne Beselt on guitars, Hubert Beselt on drums, and Marc Maurer on bass. Soundphonia is the 6^th album from Sons of Sounds and was released November 5^th, 2021, on El Puerto Records.

Before I go much further, I should preface this review by stating that Sons of Sounds is not the sort of music that I would listen to regularly. The instrumental components are great, but I really struggled with the vocals on the first listen-through. However, given one of my new year’s resolutions was to expand my musical horizons I listened to this album with an open mind.

Before I go further, this is an album that’s impossible to dislike. It’s just so damn catchy.

Soundphonia has everything that you’d expect from an epic progressive rock album. There are earworms aplenty which I can envisage would have the entire audience singing along when played live. In fact, this is an album that is made for stadiums. I’m talking about the types of stadium gigs reminiscent of Iron Maiden in the ’80s and ’90s.

Frequency of Life, which is the 4^th track on the album, is the stand-out song. The heavy bass elements are incredible. This is a very catchy song that I’ve found myself singing many times over the past couple of days. Peace Be With You is another excellent song that stands out for me. I dare you not to join in the humming that starts at about the 3-minute mark. Roman’s eerie vocals close out this track in a beautiful way. Here I Am finishes off the album and is a beautiful ballad as well as the longest song on the track. The first 3 minutes of which are solely vocals and piano. This is an emotional song in contrast to the rest to finish out the album in a way that showcases Sons of Sounds’ depth of talent.

Sons of Sounds pay homage to the progressive rock classics adding their own take. As I said earlier, this isn’t the sort of music I would generally listen to, but I think Sons of Sounds have just converted me! This is a highly polished album that is a fun listen from start to finish. These guys should have a bigger following than they do.

Tracklist:

1. Forever
2. Over
3. Frequency of Life
4. Let It Go
5. Peace Be With You
6. Street Mutt
7. Time Machine
8. The Dark
9. Flowers On My Grave
10. Reset
11. Here I Am

Sons of Sounds: Facebook

Release Year: 2021
Label: El Puerto Records
Category: Album
Country: Germany

Reviewed by Phil Bergersen