The stratosphere is in explosive colors with Mrs. Henry’s new album “Keep On Rising” and the sight is something people should never miss at all.
It is with Freddie Mercury and his band Queen, Alice’s Chains, Meatloaf, and other bands similar to these aforementioned that theatrical elements intertwining with their strongest guitar strums and the chaos it brings from the garage-sounding amps, cosmically whirling keys, and otherworldly vocal placements where another band was arising from the ashes. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to rock opera—its ambitious, multi-part rock albums have their way of telling the stories, and with Mrs. Henry’s musings, calls the god of sex and rock ‘n roll, and even nirvana (no, not the band) to provide themselves a platform for meaningful connections from a space of desire to escapism and release to emotions.
With their record, especially knowing that it is a rock opera, it often addresses contemporary demands by incorporating the art of live performances, interactive storytelling, and social issues from social anxieties and human complexities that surely resonate with listeners.
First off, setting the tone with the opener track, with various sonic placements that are stacked one vocal at a time to create this power of hyping what is next to come is something commendable to begin with. They know what works and they know what doesn’t so repeating, “Keep on rising,” with a shift of pitches every stack too makes one think that as intentional as this record being made, they have made it in such a way that still keeps the audience in their feet and though, predictable, it is not something that is disinteresting in a longer run.
Then, without further ado comes A Time Like This, a heavily dramatic on top of these scowling guitar riffs and weighty-driven drum beats, that shows such a triumphant victory in how they display their narrative. “The past is there for you to get it right,” has been repeated for quite some time, and it is true, for a time like this, if someone wants to keep on rising, history is just something that is merely written on a piece of paper with a reflective portion on the end part making it their new grown self.
Throughout the record, which is exceedingly insane, to begin with, as Keep On Rising was created with 38 tracks with bonus single versions totaling up to 45, they have managed to still find a way to make the listeners never go to the past they have once visited, and keep on standing still and following the yellow brick road towards whatever path they are choosing to walk to. Sonic-wise, they have made a lengthy track and just cut off to different portions and made it a stand-alone track is somehow a wise decision, giving each song with different flairs to shine on their own, without overpowering one another, and would serve as a pit stop for those who wanted to pause it as the run time for this record is over two hours.
However, for a two-hour runtime, especially with a greater number of tracks, while initially, people would be overwhelmed by how many the songs were encompassed in one album, taking on such a journey would be a bit jarring at first glance. Several albums have taken this route; for example, the re-recorded versions of Taylor Swift that have already been released since her decision to create Taylor’s Version of all her songs from Debut to reputation (these aforementioned albums as yet to be released re-recorded versions). At times, especially since Taylor Swift herself often creates songs in their standard 3-4 minute duration; some people may tend to stop listening to the record halfway through. However, the idea of a 2-hour runtime album ultimately offers such a unique and rewarding experience, due to the power it can give a listener to dig into the depths of their manufactured world, providing an extended sense of narrative telling, investing more emotional zeniths, and more. For Taylor, she has a lot to say about her personal life that gossip mongers can chit chat and tweet something into their profiles. For this record, due to some being interludes and some longer than the standard duration, it gives much more diversity yet creates a very cohesive sequence, with most songs often grouped as if it is created as one song.
It is a rather complete work of magnum opus and deserves to have time to sit in for more than two hours. There are no notes to present aside from the fact that Mrs. Henry is something to be the next rising star who deserves to be in the spotlight. They are ambitious enough to settle with such a vision, and they are skilled enough to create one, but they are great enough to create a great record, and as a listener, I am anticipative enough for their upcoming releases.
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About the Author
Jett interestingly seeks every supposed-to-be-life-changing almost: getting a Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education, submitting a finished compilation of epistles and poems to some book publications, and releasing passion projects to audio streaming platforms. However, his inkling of his pen and his reverberating of his music, being the ones that keep him sustained in somehows, never stop him from walking to a road yet to be taken.
