THE EARLS OF MARS!!! Now this is some kind of peculiar band from the island of Albion. A four piece group led by Harry Armstrong is delivering an interesting blend of progressive and hard rock with small bits of punk here and there. The homonymous album is the debut album of the band, though they have released a three track EP "The Skies are Falling!" in 2012 (all the compositions appear here in different takes).

From the first listening it is obvious that the word weird if not peculiar is the dominant element of the album. The cover is simple yet quite psychedelic. The song titles are even more strange and enigmatic. And then there is the music itself. And that is another thing. Very fluent compositions with various musical elements inside and a great theatrical vocal performance with great emotion. Be it the progressiveness of "Poor Whores Petition", the bluesy feeling of "The Swinger" or the beautifully evolving "The Astronomer Pig" the band shows great composition and performance skills. Every song has something interesting and outstanding element. Astounding vocals on "The Magnificent Otto", a bloody addicting ballad-not "The Ballad of Ben Ayre", the piano in "The Last Glass Eye Maker" and even more are remarkable points in the album.

I try to think of bands with similar sound that comes in my mind and maybe I could find elements from LEPROUS, PAIN OF SALVATION or even MUSE (mostly vocal wise) and yet the description is by any means not complete. "The Earls of Mars" is an album that features strong compositions, great performances both in terms of musicianship and vocals and a top notch production to bind all those stuff in a great and nice bundle. If you are into the extraordinary and you look for something less conventional and more experimental allow THE EARLS OF MARS to invade your musical realm.