EMOCEAN

Well, I just have my opinion to go by because I'm the only one I know that has this truly wonderful CD. Hubi has some great musicians on here. Most notably guitarist Marcel Coenen and one of my favorite drummers Daniel Flores of Mind's Eye. And although I have not heard of the keyboardist "Vivien Lalu" he was an integral part of this project being that he wrote all the music ( Hubi did all the lyrics and vocal melodies). His keyboard playing is precise yet very fluid. As a matter of fact, the whole CD has a very smooth and flowing sound to it. EmOcean never gets grating or to aggressive, which is a good thing considering Hubi's high tenor range and the premise of the EmOcean story line (Water, Atlantis and Poseidon etc...) The music is very keyboard oriented and is as graceful as a dolphin cruising the oceans depths. As I listened to the song Dolphin's Wake for the 1st time I truly got the "picture" of riding one of these great animals through the waves and depths. I know that is a quite a corny thing to say but it is true. I also E-mailed Hubi and told the same. Only Symphony-X's The New Mythology Suite has grabbed me in and kept me interested after many, many spins in the CD player. I've had EmOcean for a year now and it has not lost any of it's original magic, quite the opposite actually, I'm impressed even more and cant wait for the next CD (Which is almost completed) All the songs are wonderful but the standout's are...Lost in the Water's of Sargasso, Dolphin's Wake, FantaSea and The Soul's of Atlantis. I have over 700 prog. rock/metal CDs and I can safely say that there are only 10 or so that I would give a perfect 5 star rating to. This is one of them Steve S.

Ok. First, I must say that I'm not very good to review CD's. I never really did that before but well, I'll try to do my best, here, because I really think "EmOcean" deserves to be discovered and appreciated by as many people as possible. It's one of the most wonderful prog. CD's I have in my collection and I sincerely hope that my comments will be useful to you...

I heard about this CD for the first time (and bought it) about one month ago and what I can say about it is that I really got impressed by the amount of work that was invested in this album ! It's a FANTASTIC album !!!!!! My favourite one, in fact ! I would qualify it in one word: magical. The concept idea is very deep, complex, meaningful, beautiful and interesting. It's related to "water worlds", "the above" and much more ! I let you discover it - this huge and marvellous story - by yourselves, as it really worth !!! It's like a whole big story that continues itself through the songs...This is like a dream...and you'd only wish to be there...If you close your eyes, you really can "feel", "see" even "smell" everything that happens in the album. You "fly" in that world...like in a fantastic movie...That's M-A-G-I- C !!! This perfect piece of work is very special, original, mystical, spiritual even relaxing, in some way ! This is the kind of album that makes your skin shivers to every note, every line, every sound. Also, the lyrics are so well written, the words so well chosen, this only adds more strength to the album because you can "see" clear images of every song in your mind...Hubi Meisel has such a way to describe things ! It's very easy to picture everything here... Of course, I like Hubi Meisel's voice very very much too !!! It sounds so sweet and he's able to make all the "changes" he wants with it. He plays with his voice very well, which I especially love. This album is musically and vocally incredible and will leave you wordless ! There are a lot of interesting variations through every song, for any aspect. I like the piano and keyboards very much, as there is a lot !!! The music is just amazing anyway !!! The album is simply "Emotional", haha. And the sound quality is quite impressive itself !

But honestly, it's very difficult to say which song is the best !!! ALL OF THEM are great equally - but for different reasons !! I tell you, EVERYTHING is great !!! Personally, if I had to tell you which are my 3 favourite songs, I'd choose:

1- "EmOcean" (so sweet, so beautiful, my favourite vocals, just made me cry...) 2- "The Souls of Atlantis" (great musical, vocal changes and much more !) 3- "Sapientia Vitae" (great music, meaning and more too !)

But REALLY, all of them are AS GOOD AS each other and deserve to be listened to !!! I recommend it to everyone !!! That's gonna make you see things in a way you never saw them before... Basically, "EmOcean" touched my heart and soul in a way I can't describe and that's now my favourite album.

In my opinion, Hubi Meisel and his musicians have done a "meticulous" job, here !!!! I just can't wait for the next album !!! I'm really trustful that it's gonna be quite "delightful" !!!

Hubi Meisel is an underrated german musician but with all that he manages to create something really unique with this second album Emocean from 2004. He was the leading voice of another good prog metal band from Germany - Dreamscape - (have some colabotations as guest musicians on Book Of reflection (second album) among others) - after he leaves them in 2000 , he decided to go solo and gathered with him a bunch of great musicians from prog metal scene in last 10 years. The first truly important album for him is this first one from a Trilogy of concept albums namerd Emocean. The strory behind this album is maybe not very original, is bean talked a lot , specialy in metal zone, but is very well written and above all is outstending produce and played. The story is about the mysteries of deep oceans, the Bermuda triangle - that fascinates many musicians and aswell intriguing them in same time, Sargasso sea and about the famous story behind Atlantis. So, the concept is very well written by Hubi himself, with great lyrics and outstanding musicianship through out entire album. Now about the music and the musicians thet Hubi meisel gathered with him - the music is prog metal with mid tempo pieces, sometimes he is toying woth symphonic prog , but the main ingredient is prog metal. Excellent are the keys arrangements and the guitar chops, very smooth and elegant. The compositions are very well done, excellent musicians on this album like Vivien Lalu ( from Lalu, Shadrane) on keys who did a great job here, revealing once again how good and in same time how unnoticed musician he is, the virtuoso guitar player Marcel Coenen (from Sun Caged), the drums are played by one of the most intelligent drumers from prog metal , no one then Daniel Flores (from Mind's Eye), superb prestation of this great musician, and last but not least the bass lines are promoted by Jean B. Affonço a.k.a. Bamby - who goes hand in hand with the rest of the musicians delivering some very intristing bass lines. So, Emocean desearves from me full 5 star, everything is top notch on this album from music to art cover an inner sleeves, who by the way are really great and very well done - the author is Chris Kallis - who did an outstanding work here, the booklet is so well done and shows once again thet Hubi Meisel did a profesional work both musicaly and visualy. Emocean becomes one of my fav prog metal albums in last 10 years, excellent work, who is , very underrated and unnoticed, and desearve a better view. Try and convinced yourself how great this Hubi Meisel is by buying his CD in digipak format from Lion Music, aswell like his next album. Recommended.