Cyberband- through The Passages Of Time Progressive Voyages Review PV042
Cyber Band - ‘Through the Passages of Time’
Youth in progressive rock music is a wondrous and marvelous thing. In a genre that has largely been dominated by the giants of the 70’s, prog can (and very often does) get mired down in the past. An entire legion of progressive fans will actually refuse to recognize modern progressive rock music; you have but to visit any one of a myriad of Facebook sites to hear the lament: “The only bands ever talked about here are Yes and Genesis!” It’s all too true. It is both this genre’s blessing and its curse. The music was so, so great in that initial heyday, that for many it’s hard to move forward and accept that “music like that” can be made today.
Enter Cyber Band.
The group, hailing from Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines, are a recent formation of three young men who also have a deep and abiding love for the progressive rock of the 70’s. This, in itself, is notable, for far too many of today’s younger musicians are completely disconnected from the progressive music scene in general, and particularly the ‘old guard’ of the genre. Cyber Band is quite the opposite. Not only are they smitten with older progressive rock , they are capable of something magical: taking those influences of the 70’s and making music that is at once entirely unique and modern, and yet very noticeably based upon those old progressive greats. It’s not an easy thing to do…. Bands can fall into the time-worn trap of becoming too derivative of their heroes and becoming something analogous to carbon copies.
Cyber Band deftly avoids this pitfall, and the proof is a result which took almost two years to construct; 2024’s “Through the Passages of Time” (or 2025, if you’re counting their physical vinyl release as the release date). ‘Passages’ has everything a prog rock aficionado could want in a prog record: a fierce burning, twisting, turning, flailing, soaring 23-minute epic; short, exquisitely well-thought out and executed musical sketches; instrumentals both blistering and sublimely understated. It is a record which truly belies and defies the ages of its creators. Andoy Patuasic (guitars and vocals), Issac Abogatal (bass, keys and backing vocals) and CJ Alcantara (drums and percussion) have done the unthinkable; at their spritely young ages, they have masterfully crafted a progressive rock album that can easily appease BOTH the fans of the older prog era AND the neo-progressive rock seekers. It is truly marvelous to behold (and to listen to!)
So…. Join me, won’t you? Let’s get lost in time’s winding and fearsome passages, wonder at Babylon’s dream, meet Andromeda’s sons, and try our best to peer through Cyber Band’s stained glass windows as we take a track-by-track romp through this extraordinary record.
‘Through the Passages of Time’ - we are welcomed, right off the starting block, with the band’s nearly 23-minute epic masterpiece. Now…. I am a man of words; I really pride myself on an ability to explain things through writing in a way that they can be somewhat experienced. I really cannot, for the life of me, “chart” this song for you, dear reader…. or rather, I could…. but it would make no real sense at all. The expertly wielded song-craft here has bestowed upon the listener an utter maelstrom of madness…. the twists and turns are CONSTANT and amazing to bear witness to. If you like Rush (particularly AFTK/2112 -era), Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Van Der Graaf Generator, and Queen…. Well, those are just a FEW of the influences you will hear on display therein. The epic is a concept story about a man in a coma who, when navigating the passages of time, journeys eventually to Time itself, and by Time is given a second chance at a life fraught with malfeasance. As he eventually awakens from the coma, he remembers the journey and vows to live life “in the light” in a way he had not before. The song is MASTERFUL at recreating the perilous and hectic twists and turns of the journey through the passages, and it’s really quite dizzying to listen to. I truly cannot name a modern band that has come up with a 23 minute concept song that has as many excellent nods to the old prog rock greats as this track. And the musicianship is simply STELLAR; even at their young ages, the band has skills that rival almost any in the genre. For the most part…. minus one brief moment of calm midway through the track and the very end (which ends quietly yet in a beautifully anthemic fashion), there is no subtlety here; this is unadulterated, “in your face”, freight train-full-speed ahead progressive rock flamboyance of the highest possible caliber. I can only hope that I have given you a glimpse of how utterly bombastically sensational this song is. You MUST experience it yourself to fully understand. I cannot recommend highly enough that you do so.
‘The Return of Man’ - the adroitness of the epic comes to a screeching halt as we move to the 2nd half of the record with a slow, beautifully composed track, which in my view, has an amalgamation of simplicity and a brief note of almost avant-garde/art rock to it. Overall it plays in a subtle way that is easy to listen to and reminds me of the song “Tears” from Rush’s ‘2112’, as well as some hints of the beauty from a slower track from modern prog greats Moon Safari. It’s stellar in its understated way, and an excellent “stop and breathe” point after the breathlessness that resulted from the previous track.
‘Babylon’s Dream’ - the elegance of the previous track continues with Andoy’s superb acoustic guitar playing…. A panache and flare reminiscent of Rush’s “La Villa Strangiato” and shades of Yes…. before the visages of ELP and Pink Floyd take over and we then move to a slow groove that really takes us back to the older prog style and the likes of The Moody Blues. Much as the song’s name indicates, this plays like a hazed fever-dream, and accomplishes that feeling and mood quite well. Some of the greatest vocal work and harmonization on the record is displayed on this track. Simply sensational.
‘Andromeda’s Sons’ - man does Cyber Band love Rush. And that’s a VERY good thing, folks (they are, after all, my all-time favorite band!). This track, the first of two instrumentals on the record, starts off like a homage to ‘The Spirit of Radio’ before turning into a storm of notes worthy of ‘Cygnus X-1’ and ‘La Villa Strangiato’. And that’s just the first minute and a half! It then drops into a stellar half-beat with some fantastic syncopated drumming over a middle-eastern influenced guitar line. We then return to the ‘Cygnus X-1’ motif with the similarity of that Rush song’s frantic ending . Fans of the Holy Triumvirate rejoice…. This is a RushFest of an instrumental if ever there was one!
‘Son of the Sun’ - one of my favorite song on the album. This track MOVES and GROOVES in a way that no other song does. The bass takes center stage here, with a hectic, note-filled verse that then moves to an absolute crusher of a chorus, musically. We then hit a center section that brings the ferocity (but not the tempo) down a notch, before amping back up to the main groove and then to a short but heavy outro. Wow!
‘Zenith’ - not really a song, this…. More a bridge between songs…. but even it has some great atmosphere in its short time…. Leading into….
‘Stained Glass’ - the final track (the second instrumental) on this all too-short record starts in a march-style…. With the drums pounding ever forward as if an army is marching in time, before the introduction of a beautiful and anthemic piano line akin to Vangelis’s ‘Chariots of Fire’….the song then keeps this refrain but moves the line to synths and a backing orchestral accompaniment, with the drums pounding the tempo upward. We then get a full stop and the piano and orchestral synths make a grand re-entrance; the theme is very easy to listen to and is quite catchy. Our journey ends as we waft away on a guitar line reminiscent of something one might hear on a Queen record. A grand ending to an excellent album.
Cyber Band is special, ladies and gentlemen. They have managed to take an entire host of influences and pay direct homage to them without directly copying them. There isn’t a bad song on this record…. And the end of the album leaves me wanting more. Much more. That is, perhaps, the album’s only downside…. It is (or at least feels) far too short. (Note: there is a version of the album which contains two extra songs: ‘Kinabuhi’ and ‘Symphony of the Galaxy’, but since those tracks are left off of the official vinyl release, they are not mentioned here).
Fans of the oldest guards of progressive rock will love this record, as will fans of the age of newer progressive offerings. One of the record’s chief virtues is that it is truly a generation-spanning album in the sense of the homage it gives to the old while simultaneously extolling the virtues of the neo-prog world. Its intricacies and complexities are at once mesmerizing, comforting, beautiful, almost trance-inducing at times, and it is unapologetically exuberant in its reckless youthful abandon. It is absolute ecstasy to listen to, and does not ever become stale; there is so much IN the music, and such supreme excellence in the musicianship, that every listen yields some fresh and new auditory discovery. It is one of the best progressive rock albums of the past year, and I would recommend it as an essential part of any progressive rock collection.
For more information, and to order the album, visit Cyber Band’s Bandcamp page here: www.cyberband.cdo.bandcamp.com.
Through The Passages of Time | Cyber Band https://share.google/GUzA1dirc18BDu1k5
Author Chris Clark