AMG Review of Progress Reform

Margaret Reges
All Music Guide

Take the dripping, Gothic croak of Queensrÿche's Geoff Tate, mix it with a good handful of Godspeed You Black Emperor!'s reverby distortion, throw in a macabre fascination with history, and you've got the debut mini-album from Leedsian space rockers ILiKETRAiNS. Progress Reform is, if anything, an ambitious project. Songs here attempt, among other things, to chart the course of Robert F. Scott's doomed race to the South Pole ("Terra Nova") and examine the life of chess master Bobby Fischer ("A Rook House for Bobby"). But for all their gorgeous waves of distortion and grand lyrical ambitions, ILiKETRAiNS are a one-trick pony. Lush, reverb-heavy arrangements follow one after the other, providing little else than a black velvet backdrop for David Martin's lugubrious storytelling.