By Mark Elliot
Track 1 “Ocean of Life” suggests from its intro that this album may be a trip into old style 80’s prog, but the band does it so well that the best thing to do is to sit back and indulge yourself. A bit Marillion, yes but they do it justice. Lovely keyboard sounds and great songwriting.
Track 2 “The Lie” is a bit more contemporary in its construction, then a warm keyboard and guitar solo give an idea of what this band can do, but unfortunately the song then comes back and to be honest, I’ve heard that riff before.
Track 3 “Special Days” starts off with an acoustic intro which is nice but the song thereafter doesn’t really take off as it should. The guitar solo is ok but by now I think the band could be better served with a good producer and recording studio.
Track 4 “Where Are You Now” is good formula Prog but again a bit lacking in presentation. The thing that lets this band down is that they have great ideas but they don’t seem to be able to recreate them on CD. This said the keyboard solo is fantastic and worthy enough to be played to the Gods.
Track 5 “The World is Gonna Get You” again follows on from standard Prog formula and in its outset is a bit obvious. By now I’m a bit used to the band’s style, having grown up with this stuff ( Marillion, The Enid, etc…) and to be blunt it wasn’t that great 20 years ago. It always reminded me of a really bad copy and who wants to listen to that when you could just play the real thing. Saying that there are some fantastic sections to this track, I just wish it had some better continuity and was a bit more “Progressive” with the production. It’s great, but a bit safe.
Track 6 “Betray Me” really starts where the previous track left off, again very formula and a bit obvious but if you’re a fan of late 70’s, early 80’s Prog then this is for you. I’m sorry for sounding a bit negative but this whole CD just reminds me of lots of bands around London in the early 80’s who were trying to ride the Marillion gravey train. It doesn’t help that I was 14 and a bit spotty at the time.
Track 7 “Reunion” kicks off with some superb Mellotron into a rather good vocal / instrumental section. This was a lot cleverer than the previous songs and worked well.
Track 8 “Seize the Night” has a fab piano intro and the vocals for the first time on the CD explode into a really interesting instrumental section. This track is much more challenging with some great songwriting and playing. Definitely the best so far. You can’t knock the musicianship or even the sounds, but what’s lacking is a bit of originality. However the album is best presented up with this track, great writing and all the sections flow effortlessly.
Track 9 “Long Distance” is a good end track to the album. Well sung but again, I’m afraid, a bit safe. I’m writing this live so I hope the big instrumental section at the end materializes….. Yep, it did and it was really great.
Great album, extremely well played and written. Great production and a strong acknowledgement of what Prog stands for. But, well, a bit too obvious for me.