Expedition Delta 9.5/10

By Jill Hughes

In the style of Ayreon, the Serbian artist from the band Alogia, Sradjan Brankovic, has created a masterpiece with an A-list of guest musicians that take us on a musical journey. He calls this album Expedition Delta, and all of the guests the Expeditioners. These expeditioners include: Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery), Andrea De Paoli (Labyrinth), Rene Merkelbach, Richard Andersson (Time Requiem), Erik Norlander (Lana Lane & Rocket Scientists), Joost van den Broek (After Forever), Sabine Edelsbacher (Edenbridge), Torsten Roehre (Silent Force), Santiago Dobles (Aghora), Alex Argento, Mikkel Henderson, Vivien Lalu, etc. This album was signed to ProgRock Records, and some of the members will be joining Brankovic at the Castle Festival in Smederevo (Serbia) this summer to perform pieces of it.

In classic prog style, the album starts with an engaging instrumental introduction, and then the vocals from Nikola Mijic blast us away. The first song, “Asunder Hearts” is very catchy in a pop-musical format. Female vocals done by Alexandra Jankovic are at a great forte and add a colorful vibrancy to the song.

This album is at no loss for epic prog keyboard runs, and guitar shredding. It pulls you in and really gets you grooving. Nikola’s vocals remind me a lot of D.C. Cooper at times, and the instrumental parts are very reminiscent of the usual styles of the individuals performing them. I have to hand it to Brankovic for making this album really rock out with very dramatic vocal lines and catchy lyrics, and never dull instrumental moments.

After the first two tracks, Expedition Delta takes us on an Astral Journey with four songs, “Self Abstract”, “Into the Halls of Eternity”, “Flight with the Mind” (instrumental), “and The Awakening”. This is packaged as a four-part mini-concept album and is about a person who has left the physical life by separating the spiritual side of himself from his body, according to the liner notes. These songs are sure one hell of a space ride.

Sabine’s sultry vocals are a sure treat on this album, as well as my personal favorites Gary Wehrkamp’s fast guitar riffs on “Flight with the Mind” (very ironic since he did a cameo on an Ayreon album called “Flight of the Migrator”) and Erik Norlander’s keyboard playing that takes us on a psychedelic roller coaster ride with the song “Planets”.

The album ends with the song “It Needs a Happy End” and that it does. It has some very strong classic rock influences mixed in with the prog complexity of instrumental breakdowns. I was very happy with the entire album, and it will remain a CD that I will have no problems with listening to on numerous occasions. I hope to hear more from Brankovic, perhaps another expedition. Pick this one up and don’t let it collect dust.

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