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Sound - 3 of 4 stars
Composition - 3 of 4 stars
Musicianship - 3 of 4 stars
Performance - 4 of 4 stars

Total rating - 13 of 16 stars

Prophecies of War, the brainchild of Philadelphia native Andrew Hanna, is a multimedia event that has been playing assorted venues for some time now. Equal parts theater and concert, the musicians, dressed in black, are dwarfed by three floor-to-ceiling projection screens showing clips of war, politicians, and human society in rapid bytes. The Band shoulders the daunting task of supplying the instrumental soundtrack to these videos, which collectively depict the horrors of war through the ages. A cool twist is that the musicians convey the message through a German Flavored experimental fusion recalling '70s trailblazers Embryo.

This production is divided into two acts, with snippets of Dwight Eisenhower in the first part and George W. Bush in the second. The music holds up just fine without the visual aid. A repetitive driving jazz-rock is established while Hanna's electric effected saxophone or Art Franklin's keys supply most of the soloing, evoking fond memories of Soft Machine's salad days. Spacier interludes fortify that 70s feel. Hanna, through a different avenue, explores a timeworn human malady. - Warren Barker

Jazz-rock/musique expérimentale DP4-BV8
ProgResiste54

PROPHECIES OF WAR est un projet singulier : ambitieux, pluri-artistique et politique. Ambitieux : la mission est de donner voix aux sans voix. Pluri-artistique : sur base de sa théorie de l'art collectif, Andrew Hanna (saxophones et synthétiseurs) et son groupe produisent des performances multi-sensorielles (« du LSD sans le LSD ») qui allient musique, projections vidéo sur écran géant (images de présidents, guerres, travailleurs ou banques) et ret ransmission sonore d'extraits de discours des présidents américains Dwight Eisenhower (« the military industrial complex » - d'abord vint l'avertissement) et George Bush (« Double You » - puis vint le problème).

Politique : le positionnement du groupe cousine avec Rage Against the Machine, Michael Moore ou Henry Thoreau. Désobéissance civile et pacifi sme répondent au célèbre mot de W après le 11 septembre « if you are not with us, you are against us » (« manifester contre la politique américaine en Iraq ou en Afghanistan est immoral, antipatriotique et terroriste ») : c'est ne pas questionner le gouvernement qui est immoral, c'est ne pas manifester contre le gouvernement qui est antipatriotique, c'est ne pas dire ce que vous pensez qui est terroriste. Répété pendant des mois et enregistré en un jour, l'album décline, en deux actes, une musique, expérimentale parfois - voire même un peu free - (War), jazz souvent (In the Beginning - dont la deuxième partie fait la part belle à la basse (Matt Cusack), instrument peu habitué à bénéfi cier d'une telle audibilité), hypnotique - en particulier quand elle laisse la voix aux présidents - (Introduction - Act I, le languissant Profi t-C), fusion de temps à autre (Attack), teintée occasionnellement de métal (Send Us Your Children), d'électronico-ambient (Introduction - Act II) ou de relents de musique répétitive (In the End et sa sonorité à la Terry Riley). Art Franklin (synthétiseurs, piano, orgues), Brahm Genzlinger (guitare) et Charlie Heim (batterie) complètent ce groupe de Philadelphie, qui se revendique d'infl uences où cohabitent Mars Volta, Yes et Igor Stravinsky. Lecteur, voilà un projet original, cheminant sur des pavés parfois rêches, mais intelligemment disposés suivant un plan intelligent, généreux et fi er de sa persévérance. Attachant. www.AtHandProductions.com by Bernard Vincken ProgResiste54

by Jon Solomon
September 30, 2008

With a band name like Prophecies of War and a song titled "War," I had pretty solid expectations of what these guys were going to sound like before I heard them. But o my pleasant surprise, I was completely wrong. Instead of cookie monster shouts and kung fu-inducing breakdowns, there's spastic drumming, droning synths and electric sax. - Philadelphia Citypaper - 9/30/2008

The poetic of At Hand Production, not a band but a company of talented musicians and composers from Philadelphia, is as particular as ambitious, for the reason that has the purpose of deepening the phenomenology of the strict relationship between word, music and video. We find this poetic better summarized in Prophecies of War. War, as the title suggests. War artistically analyzed and reinterpreted trough the mix of jazz, progressive rock, classical music and presidential speeches or letters from the front read by extemporaneous narrative voices. A performance based on the feelings aroused by the juxtaposition of the sound of the bombings and the ethereal, dilated and, sometimes, incisive atmospheres.

A deepening of the biggest human mistake / obscenity that, rather than let us think about the theme of war, shows us how terrifying and disturbing Miles Davis or John Coltrane could be. Of course, something misses. The record gives us a product mutilated, without an important component: the video, the images that run on the screen in perfect symbiosis with music. This is the reason why the best mark should go only to the entire performance, the one in Philadelphia in 2002. We could only value Prophecies of War as a taste-prelude of something bigger and emotionally (but also intellectually) more involving.

by Pietro Terzi
Artists & Bands

Rock med klare politiske undertoner, og en oppfordring til fredfull sivil ulydighet ikke ulikt Henry Thoreau, Michael Moore og Rage Against the Machine. Musikalsk er det derimot Bitches Brew, Tool, Mars Volta, Miles Davies og Yes som Prophecies Of War har vært i hyllene hos. Philadelphia store musikalske sønn Andrew Hanna er hjernen bak prosjektet Prophecies At War, som er et multimedia konsept likelig fordelt mellom teater og musikk på konsertene. På scenen er bandet kledd i svart og noen gigantiske skjermer viser sekvenser fra politiker og kriger, og visualiserer krigens redsler og meningsløshet gjennom tidene. Det hele er delt i to, og første del er viet Dwight Eisenhower, mens den andre tar for seg George W. Bush. Nå er det ytterst viktig å ile til med å si at musikken til Prohecies Of War så absolutt står på egen ben, og at staffasjen kun er der for å understreke budskapet. En total avsky mot krig og de politiske krigshisserne, og et håp om at vi kan lære av denne galskapen.

Som tonefølge til konseptet er det ofte en temmelig eksperimentell musikk, som med sin repetitive natur er svært suggererende og spennende. En jazzrock hvor Hanna sin elektriske saksofon ofte fører an, mens Art Franklin sine brett står for mye av soliene. Noen spacy mellomspill sørger for en 70 talls følelse, mens musikken med varierte virkemidler presenterer den medtatte menneskeskapte galskapen som krig tross alt er. Musikalsk kan vi ane slektskap med tidlige tiders Soft Machine, men musikken er også krydret med 70 tallets tyske fusion, og spesielt Embryo sin musikk er relevant i så måte. Noen ganger bygger det seg opp til en crescendo av lyd, mens andre ganger holder det seg nede i mørke dalbunner. Noen partier er lettere atonale og frisker opp, mens tidvis spastiske trommer også gjør sitt for å skape et vitalt uttrykk. Tross en viss dose villskap er det alltid en viss struktur som inneholder nok melodiske og musikalske kvaliteter. Alle låtene har rikelig med særpreg og kvalitet og skiva fremstår som en jazzrock sak med store kvaliteter og et krystallklart budskap.