MOTHER TURTLE

I'm sure every one of us is mystified why some bands or albums are not as big and as famous as we think they should be. Case in point: Mother Turtle hail from Thessaloniki, Greece and their debut album has gone unnoticed from the majority of the prog fans. Anyway, Mother Turtle deliver superb prog tunes, loaded with swifts of moods, tempo and time changes, but they never overegg the pudding. Every part has a reason for existence. The rhythm section is sublime, featuring great, tight and inspired playing. Kostas Konstandinidis comes up not only with soulful guitar playing, but also with lyrics which are definitely worth checking out. There is also an instrumental piece called Rhinocerotic where the band stretches its prog muscles a little bit more. It's truly impossible to pick a favourite song, I would only say that in my opinion The Elf is slightly less engaging. But the album has a great flow and once you push the play button there is no stopping. Hopefully, prog rock fans (probably won' t appeal that much to prog metal fans) will discover this gem and they will restore this unfairness.

I stop short of naming it a masterpiece of progressive rock music, but it is up there with the best.