Exit Soma
Just Flew By
CD. 2024. Progressive Rock.

Take a teacher in his mid-fifties (Markus Lackmann) with a passion for prog rock and a former student (Lajosch Schrot) who shares the passion and the result is a progressive concept album. Markus & Lajosch worked on their dream for over a year, which was finally released in 2024. I'm reviewing the CD version here, because I'm old school.

First, the technical aspects. The CD sounds clean; the music isn't muffled or too flat—there's nothing to criticize here. Besides Markus and Lajosch, ten other musicians contributed. Vocals are always a matter of taste, but I find every singer on this CD to be good. The booklet is well-designed, and the images are AI-generated. Understandable for a project that only releases one CD.

Aliens find a planet called Earth, in a completely out-of-date spiral arm of the Milky Way. The AI ​​on board tells them what makes the Earth so special. However, a few conversations are enough for the visitors to realize that humans are a hopeless case. In any case, the visitors leave empty-handed and do not help. Beneath this perhaps not new idea lies a socially critical concept album about the state of our planet. As with many other good prog albums, it all starts with an overture. “This Strange Blue Planet”. With the spoken facts about our Earth, it reminds me a little of the song The Search For Terrestrial Life by Phideaux. Although Exit Soma deliver a clear prog song here. With fiddly elements, varied passages. “Just Flew By” starts off like a gentle Porcupine Tree song and then transitions into Dream Theater. In “H+” I hear a melodic song where the lyrics and music flow beautifully into one another. With pop elements. A first highlight for me. "Broken Beyond Repair" reminds me vocally and musically of the US band Refestramus, on their album Intourist. And I like this style. Nice and rocky. "Backhanded Guide To Success" comes with some samples of today's despots, Trump, Putin, Erdogan, Xi, etc. If I were an alien, I would run and fast!
"Fuck Yeah!" describes the state of many people pretty well. Musically, it's not really my thing. "Never Enough" is another highlight for me, a beautifully flowing song. "The Lot Of Them" reminds me of Ayreon, rocky notes, good vocals, spacey keyboards. "Cosmic Joke" is a good prog song, with a spacey note. For me, the best song on "Just Flew By". The closer "(Not) All is Lost" also has an Ayreon note for me and compensates us at the end with a little hope.

I initially struggled to draw a conclusion and categorize this CD, as is usually the case with albums that don't immediately grab me. It wasn't until the more intensive review phase, with repeated playback, reading the lyrics, and engaging with the booklet, that the music slowly began to sink in. Exit Soma delivers a kind of reminiscence of prog-rock without simply copying it. The story is contemporary and effectively conveyed through the lyrics and music. I take my hat off to them for producing such a well-crafted, complete concept album. I hope Exit Soma will give us more concept albums. Anyone interested in an Exit Soma CD should contact Markus Lackmann.

The photos are all from my CD. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.

TheProgThief
©14.01.2025