Sonic Tool Box - 2017 - A Space In Time

(48:59; Ex'Cess Records)

Track list:
1. Your New World Order 5:13
2. When You Go for the Rich 4:54
3. I Can Do It 5:09
4. Love Your Life 7:34
5. A Space in Time 6:20
6. Wonderful Time 4:17
7. I Leave It All Behind 6:07
8. A Light Song 4:23
9. Big Cigars 5:02

Line-up:
Lars Boutrup - vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass
Michael Miller - drums, percussion, keyboards
with:
Kasper Damgaard - guitars
Juruda Bendtsen - backing vocals


Prolusion.
Danish band Sonic Tool Box revolves around the talents of Lars Boutrup and Michael Miller, musicians that have a history of working together that started out back in the 1980s. This is their current project, one that was instigated back in 2013 and with two studio albums out so far. "A Space in Time" is the most recent of these, and was released through Danish label Ex'Cess Records back in 2017.

Analysis.
While this is an album where at least a part of the marketing have been done towards the progressive rock environment, presumably due to Boutrup having a few progressive rock albums under his belt, Sonic Tool Box isn't a band that I regard as being all that relevant for those with a primary interest in progressive rock. At least on this album the compositions revolve around rather different characteristics altogether, with only a token nod in the progressive rock direction tucked in at the very end.

What we do get is an album filled with a dark toned, mood rich variety of 80s rock music. Some songs touch base a little bit with electronic pop and new wave, others have a closer relation to the post-punk tradition, and some may have a little bit of a Gothic rock undercurrent going on. These are songs where the core foundation trots along at a steady pace, with few alterations in intensity beyond the ones that are subtle in nature. The vocals tend to be dominant, controlled in execution, and focusing on the darker tones of the register. Much the same is the case with the guitars, whether it is present in a more subdued and supporting role or is given a more prominent placement in the mix. Many of the songs does feature playful keyboards, synthesizers and effects, but more often than not these elements are toned down a bit as to not become dominant, even if they can have a bit of a defining role on quite a few of the songs here.

The more theatrical and dramatic concluding instrumental 'Big Cigars' is the sole instance here of a composition that contains a little bit of a progressive rock touch in my opinion. While the song as such is too uniform in execution to be defined as progressive rock as such, the big drums and dramatic keyboards does make this a song that probably wouldn't have been made if a band like ELP hadn't been a part of music history.

Conclusion.
Sonic Tool Box isn't a band that will be all that interesting to fans of progressive rock: At least the material we find on their second studio album "A Space in Time" doesn't feature all that many impulses that are of interest in this specific context. While this is an album with many fine and a few solid cuts, this is a production that comes with a much stronger attachment to new wave, post-punk and Gothic rock as far as style and orientation is concerned, and taking a lot of cues from how these traditions were explored back in the 1980s at that. But if you love and treasure music of this kind and enjoy a darker and more brooding trip into landscapes related to those traditions, then this album is one that merits a check at some point.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, December 2023

Links:
https://sonictoolbox.com/
https://excessrecords.com/