By Nick Tate
There’s something to be said for a legacy prog band that’s been making music since John, Paul, George and Ringo were still together. For more than five decades, Nektar has been inventing, and reinventing, progressive rock and the band’s own signature sound, cutting a wide swath through psychedelia, space rock, fusion, folk and symphonic rock. And, remarkably perhaps, this sturdy collective is still going strong, despite the passing of three of its four founding members and a series of lineup changes in recent years.
Nektar’s new album, “Mission to Mars,” is a testament to the band’s staying power and enduring creative spirit. The record charts yet another new direction for these stalwart first-wave prog-rockers, while at the same time remaining true to the band’s heady late-1960s experimental-rock roots — no easy feat for a band with so much history.
Like Nektar’s last release, 2020’s “The Other Side,” the new album rocks harder than much of the band’s back catalog. Reminiscent of early Deep Purple and ’70s heavy hitters like Montrose, Free and Kansas, “Mission to Mars” seamlessly bridges the gaps between prog, orchestral rock, acoustic music and metal with often-surprising results.
Featuring just four extended tracks, the album clocks in under 33 minutes — virtually an EP, by prog standards. But the band covers an extraordinary amount of musical territory on the album, the first in a trilogy of recordings Nektar has planned.
From the opening track, it is evident that guitarist and singer-songwriter Ryche Chlanda has taken a leading role in the band, which now features just one original founding member, bassist and co-writer Derek “Mo” Moore. Chlanda, formerly with 1970s American prog outfit Fireballet and founder of his own Flying Dreams band, gamely steps in for the late guitarist-vocalist Roye Albrighton (who passed away in 2016), bringing a harder edge to the Nektar sound. Most songs on “Mission to Mars” are heavy guitar-driven workouts, featuring Chlanda’s stirring solos, amped-up theatrical vocals and feather-light acoustic touches here and there.
Moore matches Chlanda’s energy and inventiveness, in the songwriting and performances here, delivering melodic bass lines that put him in league with bass-as-lead-guitar innovators like Chris Squire, Tony Levin and Geddy Lee. Keyboardist Kendall Scott adds an orchestral dimension to the album, layering in symphonic passages and vintage synth runs that would have fit neatly on Nektar’s 1973 breakout album, “Remember the Future.” Jay Dittamo anchors the band, with powerful creative drumming that drives everything forward. And backing vocalist Maryann Castello sweetens the overall sound, particularly when harmonizing with Chlanda and Moore.
The album opens with the title track, a kicky hard-rock anthem built around a propulsive bass line that incorporates a riff Moore used to finger when sound checking his bass in the 1970s. The rousing chorus introduces the larger thematic subtext for much of the album: “Mission to Mars” is actually a metaphor for the internal quest for personal growth and awareness:
“Celebrate,
Scream and shout,
Love yourself,
Let it out!”
A few minutes into the epic track, it shifts gears with a Hammond organ passage from Scott that takes the piece in an entirely different direction. At the five-minute mark, a trippy instrumental space-rock jam captures Scott, Moore and Chlanda trading licks before a final, searing guitar solo ends the track on a high note.
Next up is “Long Lost Sunday,” an interior monologue of sorts about spiritual connection. It’s a showcase for Chlanda, featuring an urgent vocal and some of the most soulful fretwork on the album, as well as an uplifting twin-synth attack from Scott.
The track is followed by the strongest piece on the album, “One Day Hi One Day Lo.” It’s a classic slice of symphonic rock, replete with a lush orchestral intro and middle section from Scott that elevates the track. The multi-part 10-minute suite features taut guitar-keys-bass-and-drum lines that channel that vintage Nektar sound, but in a way that pays homage to the band’s roots without merely aping what has come before.
“I’ll Let You In,” which closes out the album, is an introspective ballad about the transformational power of love. It opens with a spare acoustic-guitar figure and plaintive vocal that builds to a power-rock crescendo that is stirring and transcendent. Calling back to the lyrical content of the opening title track, Chlanda sings:
“Time to celebrate,
Praise and shout about it,
I’ll let you in.”
It’s one of the most powerful and emotional pieces in the entire Nektar catalog, a true testament to the band’s staying power and ability to break new ground after all these years.
In a brief interview, Chlanda explained that the writing of “Mission to Mars” started during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“I had several ideas and shared them with Mo,” he said. “He also had riffs and textures that were very inspirational to me. Kendall then came in with sections that grew into the songs. Mo and I wrote all of the lyrics over Zoom and in sit-down sessions at my house.”
Most tracks started out as ideas that Chlanda and Moore worked up together, then brought to the band to develop and refine in the studio.
“I’ll Let You In,” for instance, came to Chlanda all-of-a-piece one night and was completed with contributions from Moore and the other band members during the recording sessions. “It was a complete download for me,” he said. “Late for a dinner engagement, I found myself in the middle of getting a bunch of lyrics and chord changes for a verse and hook. I sang it into my iPhone and captured it. Mo and I wrote a bridge and that one closes the album. It’s a song about God and letting love into your heart. I love when that happens.”
Little-known fact: Chlanda joined Nektar officially in 2018, after Moore and founding drummer Ron Howden (who passed away last year) recruited him to step in for the late Albrighton. Those initial jam sessions led to the recording of “The Other Side.” But Chlanda’s history with Nektar actually predates those sessions by nearly four decades.
“I joined briefly in 1978 after meeting Mo at the House of Music, a studio in New Jersey,” he said. “Mo and Nektar were finishing ‘Magic is a Child.’ He invited me to jam at the Nektar house in Chatham, N.J., which led to several shows and the writing of several songs. I then got a call from Mo and Ron in 2018 to get the band back together and to revisit the songs that we wrote in ’78. That reunion resulted in the recording of ‘The Other Side.’”
Since then, Chlanda and friends have been touring and writing new music. Immediate plans have the band touring Europe later this year and early next, then returning to the states for a series of live shows, performing “Mission to Mars” in its entirety and a selection of classic Nektar tracks.
Chlanda said he expects the writing and recording for the next installment of the trilogy to begin in January.
“There’s two more installments on deck,” he said. “Around the first of the year, I think we’re going to start the writing sessions for the next one. I’m writing now; I’m always writing. ‘Mission to Mars,’ at least in my head, is about the internal journey to finding yourself. And we’ll take you to different places for the next two installments.”
Released on June 30th, 2024 on Deko Entertainment.
Track list:
1. Mission To Mars 8:56
2. Long Lost Sunday 7:11
3. One Day Hi One Day Lo 10:11
4. I’ll Let You In 6:04
The band:
Derek “Mo” Moore — bass, vocals
Ryche Chlanda — guitar, vocals
Kendall Scott — keyboards, vocals
Jay Dittamo — drums
