WORLD THROUGH MY EYES

The record starts off with "Sleep" that has a good melody throughout and I like the lighter passage after 4 minutes. Some good guitar as well. "Start The Fire" is an uptempo tune with another good melody, and I like the full sound in the beginning. "Everything Was Not Enough" are my thoughts exactly about this song, do not like it. "Roses" has Ray Wilson on vocals (which is an improvement) on this smooth, catchy tune.

"Lights" features a strummed acoustic guitar melody and some sampling before the piano comes in, and it ends with some nice soaring guitar. "Sea-Nature" is a pretty cool, psychedelic sounding tune (even the lyrics) with spacey synths and some smoking guitar makes this a highlight. "Day On My Pillow" is a so- so, relaxing, poppy tune. "World Through My Eyes" features some Eastern influences and a good beat once it gets going. The drums are more upfront on "Wasted Land", while "Bound To Reach The End" has some beautiful guitar moments in it.

This is a good, accessible release that should please a lot of people who are into melodic, atmospheric music.

When I first listened to this record, the most obvious thing I was expecting was stron Pink Floyd influences, of course. I was waiting to hear psychedelic, spacey landscapes, I was expecting soaring, long-winded guitar solos a la Gilmour, and sarcastic, narcitic vocals like Waters'. All of these, I have to say, is nowhere to be found in this album, which is, at first, a good thing, as it clearly shows that this outfit has finally achieved a sound of their own, something that I have to recognize. Even though they have been included in the "Neo Prog" category, their music doesn't sound like most of the usual representatives of this genre (Marillion, IQ, Arena), and doesn't bear much resemblance with the main influence for all of those bands, Genesis.

Anyway, the music in this album DOES sound like some other Neo-Prog bands (or at least bands that have been listed here as Neo prog), and most of all, like a group like Kino. RPWL's music reminds me a lot of PICTURE, Kino's first (and only) album, a side- project by such Neo Prog greats as John Mitchell from Arena. Just like in that release (which I don't know if it came earlier or actually later than this album, so I can't say which band influenced whom, if it did happen), what we have here is "light" prog music, music with strong pop elements, not much in the way of long solos or complex structures (though we get a few of the former and a couple of the latter), and nice, "listener-friendly" harmonies and melodies that don't cry desperately for prog credentials. The band members are very capable from what can be heard, though none of them really surprised me.

As I said, the music in this sound is somewhat similar to that in Kino's album (or even to that in some songs in a much more recent release like Frost*'s MILLIONTOWN), but while Mitchell's record had a lot of catchy tunes and melodies and songs that stuck in your head, this German band's cd doesn't have a true fantastic song, or one that stays in your memory long enough. With music like this, where it's clear that the purpose isn't to write the most complex pieces ever, I guess more memorable tunes would be in order. That's not the case in this album, which has some good moments but nothing that really stands out. All in all, I'd say that the best tracks are, without a doubt, "Roses" (with a good vocal performance by guest singer Ray Wilson), "Three Lights" and the title track, these two the most prog of the lot, alongside "Sea-Nature", a song that didn't win me over.

An enjoyable record, if not overly exciting. Good for an easy-prog-listening.

Recommended for: fans of "light" neo prog a la Kino; fans of good rock music with some pop elements.

Not recommended for: people that need really complex progressive music; people in search of a hard-rock or metallic experience, and people thinking that this band sounds like PF...

...they may had, in the past. Now their sound is pretty much their own, if not incredibly interesting.

In this "World Through My Eyes", the band's music is now even mature and maintaining the same vein with their previous album. Patience is probably the right word for enjoying this album. I have to wait until halfway through a particular track to get good musical segments. I keep pondering to myself why the band did not compose beautiful segment(s) right at the beginning of the track? For those of you who like an atmospheric / psychedelic style with barely minimum variations of high and low points, this album might suit your taste. Let me now review on a track by track basis.

"The Sleep" track opens with an eastern music nuance similar with what Kula Shaker and Deep Forest have done. What really struck my mind the first time I listened to this track was that its rhythm section - and part of its melody - reminded me to other musician's work. I tried to memorize who has composed similar rhythm before. A couple of days later, finally I got it and I played the song altogether with this track. It's a Def Leppard's song called "Truth?" from Slang album. It's not exactly the same - Def Leppard's one is more upbeat than RPWL's, but they both share similar rhythm. The style of guitar reminds me to David Gilmour's in "High Hopes" of the Division Bell album. There is keyboard sound during quiet passages that sound like "Carpet Crawlers" of Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" album. Despite the fact that some musical passages / elements of this track have some similarities with other musicians' works, this is an enjoyable track.

"Start the Fire" is an atmospheric and happy mood track with soft guitar work and some eastern percussion work at some end of the bars. The organ work at the ending part of the track is really stunning combining the 70s sound with modern technology. But I have to wait 4 minutes before reaching this segment. In some passages at background I can hear a sort of clarinet sound that reminds me again of Kula Shaker.

"Everything Was Not Enough" is a mellow track that starts off with soft piano work that once misled me to the illusion of Kayak's Life of Gold intro. My illusion did not come true as when the vocal enters the music it's totally different melody. Acoustic guitar accentuates the piano to accompany voice line. It's a quite plain track, melody-wise. The enjoyment part of this track is probably on the sound produced and the Gilmour guitar style.

"Roses" has a happy mood and moderate tempo track. Ray Wilson on vocals offers a slightly different style. Melody-wise this track does not offer a wide variety of high and low points, the music flows continuously with some passages in quieter mood and slower tempo. Good guitar sound, softer than typical Pink Floyd songs.

The following track "Three Lights" opens with an acoustic guitar followed with vocal line in low / medium register note. The vocal quality reminds me of Gilmour's voice. This track brings me to full enjoyment when keyboard takes the lead in solo and followed with soft guitar solo while simple keyboard sound is played at background to provide the song's atmosphere. Wow! What an excellent segment! It brings this track to the end. The only problem I have is that I have to wait for approximately 5 minutes to reach this segment.

"Sea-Nature" is an excellent track that blew my mind at first listen! It starts off with a drum shot followed with punchy keyboard work in ambient style. If I observe only the keyboard part, it reminds me to the music nuance of Roger Daltrey's song "Under A Raging Moon" from album with the same title. The solo guitar and keyboard that intertwined one another in the middle of the track is really amazing. I notice a variety of nuances and tempo changes that conjure up into a wonderful composition. It's my favourite track. Superb!

"Day On My Pillow" is a moderate tempo track with a clear voice line and wonderful guitar effects and soundscapes. The music flows in a continuous stream with little variations in terms of melody and tonal voice line. The band demonstrates a well crafted combination of keyboard / organ and Floydian guitar sounds during the interlude part. This short interlude creates beautiful musical nuances.

"World Through My Eyes" starts off with a soundscape of female native chants in eastern music nuance followed with male voice. The harmony between vocal and eastern music is nice. Long sustained guitar sounds augment the opening part, followed by vocal and Indian percussion. The music then turns to disco type rhythm with sampling technique. This part is intertwined with vocals and turns quieter during transition. After halfway through the track, the keyboard sound enters in the vein of Pink Floyd signatures. I've seen frequent tempo changes performed in a smooth way. This is probably the best track of this album. It has a strong structure and excellent sound variations.

"Wasted Land" is a moderate tempo track in the vein of Radiohead / Muse that flows almost plainly with minimum high and low variations. Halfway through, this track does not attract me. But the interlude is good before it returns back to original rhythm.

"Bound To Reach The End" has an opening keyboard sound that seems to bring the music of Peter Gabriel's Here Comes The Flood. But when the voice line enters the music, it's totally a different melody. Sometimes this track is enjoyable but It's not something that I like all the time, it depends on mood, I guess.

In conclusion, this album has indicated the band's improvement from its previous album. If the band really pursue a musical direction similar to Pink Floyd, some catchy melodies should be added in their compositions. Having released some albums now, with similar vein, it's the band's decision to stay the music "as-is" in their future releases. Or, they might craft their music with much melodic compositions by still maintaining their existing style - to gain a wider audience.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

The title track of the album "World trough my Eyes" and "Bound to reach the End" are also very nice tracks. I'm wondering whether I should give this album a 3 or a 4 star rating. I think I should stick by 3 stars, since I personally think SYLVAN in Germany's best progressive rock band, NOT RPWL. Also Marco Glümann's vocals are much better than Yogi Lang's. So probably the average rating on PA of around 3,5 is pretty accurate.

The Floydian ones are : "Sleep" (probably one of the best songs here), "Everything Was Not Enough" which is a mellow rock ballad and rather dull, "Three Lights" which starts on an acoustic, soft mood. It is only catchy during the second part when the keys are entering the scene and open a very good instrumental section with crying and fully Gilmour-esque guitar. Fantastic half song. This structure is very similar to several "Mostly Autumn" numbers.

The Porcupinean ones are : "Start The Fire" and "World Through My Eyes". But none of those could really convinced me. The later being monotonous and dull and toooooooo long. The best of these "PT" tracks is definitely "Wasted Land". My fave form this album. The short format is a bit of a relief. A great pop song with a very catchy chorus. Its beat is also breaking with the overall soft atmosphere of this album.

There will even be a mix of the genre with the closing number "Bound To Reach The End". I guess that the band does have a good dosis of humour because it is indeed hard to reach the end of this album. Most of this track is "PT" oriented but a short and excellent guitar break will be very close again to David's work.

The fact that Ray Wilson is the guest vocalist for "Roses" will remind the "Calling All Stations" album (from "Genesis" of course). Another good song.

This album is well over the seventy minutes mark which is too long in this case. They could have cut it by two songs to make it more appealing. But this is the tendancy for lots of bands these days. But producing ultra long albums does not always mean good albums thoughout their lenght.

This album is fully in-line with its predecessors. Although more on the mellowish side and with less variations.

Same rating : three stars.

From the hypnotic, Eastern sounding groove of Sleep, World Through My Eyes hook the listener with strong melodies and dynamic compositions of a much more artistic flair than on previous albums. Weaving between styles and moods, Lang delivers his best vocal performance to date, infectiously crooning out a cosmic message of life, love, and beauty in a screwed-up world. Songs like Star the Fire, Roses, and Wasted Land are impossible not to be moved by, while the extended title track showcases the band's newfound creativity with plenty of class and style throughout its tempo changes and mood swings.

Great instrumental work found throughout, and memorable melodies to please most anyone. Highly recommended; without a doubt the best release by the band.

Songwriting: 4 Instrumental Performances: 3 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 4