WHERE IDEAL AND DENIAL COLLIDE

ODDLEAF are a five piece band out of France and the girls rule here. We get a female vocalist and keyboardist, and the latter composed all the music. This band had been playing medieval music over the last decade or so when their male vocalist left. That brought on a change in direction, and honestly I'm always sceptical of bands from outside our style of music deciding to make a prog album. Sometimes it comes across as a paint by numbers thing, like that Todd Rundgren album. No fear of that here as this is all very well done.

This is a concept or themed album about planet Earth. The cover art is spectacular, especially opening the gate fold and expanding that picture. Nice. By the way Jacob Holm-Lupo mastered this record. Some will know Jacob from WHITE WILLOW and the many other bands he's involved with. We get six tracks worth over 48 minutes. I don't like that the guitarist is also the bass player. Only once did I feel that the bass stood out and that was on "Back In Time", but I'm sure there must be others. We also get a flautist and while some mention CAMEL in regards to their sound, I missed that myself.

For me it's MAGENTA that I kept thinking of. There's some long pieces on here like "Life" at 11 1/2 minutes. I like the pulsating organ on this one, especially before 5 minutes. Piano, flute and vocals standout as well. "Back In Time" is 14 1/2 minutes and the longest. There's some narration on here. Some ripping organ. Is that clavinet before 13 minutes? I like the drumming late.

The closer "Coexistence-Part !" is 11 1/2 minutes long and a great way to end it. A real nice start with the floating organ and lead guitar as drums pound. Dreamy is the word between 4 and 6 minutes. I like the sounds of water and whales to end it. Meaningful. The 8 minute "Ethreal Melodies" might be my favourite though. Majestic sounding and a guitar solo late which is replaced by synths as it settles.

A real nice album that is for fans of Symphonic music in the realm of MAGENTA and RENAISSANCE. Not my cup of tea but a worthy debut.

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