THE SECRET GARDEN

Arlekin's Secret Garden is a solid Neo-Prog offering. It is similar in tone to Genesis and Marrilion, etc. The album offers a sense of a journey and it that i feel it is well titled. It is a bit uneven with the first two songs, "Old Mother Europe" and "Night of the Two Knights" being ok, but not much better than that. The third track, "In Possession of the Moon" is better. And the final three tracks: "It Wouldn't Last", "Mirror of Shadows", and "Adult Responsibilities" are much better. "It Wouldn't Last" has a bit of 'jazziness" to it.

Skilled musicianship throughout with piano interludes as my favorite elements. Igor's vocals are imho the weakest part of the album. His voice has a 'strained' quality that detracts from the album to a small extent. I imagine it has the potential to grow on one with each subsequent listening.

This is written in March of 2022 and part of my reason for checking out Arlekin is the distress that so many of us are feeling with the circumstances in Ukraine.