DAWN

Due to inner conflicts, caused by the band's manager Jay Partridge, Eloy folded in 1975.Randow and Janssen went on to join Hard Rock veterans Epitaph, while Wieczorke became a member of Firehorse among others.The Harvest label though encouraged Bornemann to rebuild his brainchild and early in the next year he recruited ex-Getriebe Detlev Schmidtchen on keyboards, Klaus-Peter Matziol on bass and former Scorpions drummer Juergen Rosenthal.The revived Eloy revisited the Studios Nedeltschev in August 76' and a month later the new album ''Dawn'' was ready for launch.It was finally released in December of the same year.

This was another concept album, which appears to have tight links with the storyline of the previous work, with Rosenthal instantly becoming a contributor to the band's lyrics.Musically it comes a step closer to a more refined style in the realms of Space/Symphonic Rock with the group starting to recall the similar albums of PINK FLOYD, without losing the integrity of the typical Kraut Rock act their fans loved during their early days.Schmidtchen was already known for his Classical and symphonic vibes and his addition provided the Germans with a keyboard work, which was very spacious and symphonic at the same time, strengthened by the presence of some orchestral soundscapes.While he was awarded with a variety of keyboard equipments, his minimoog and synthesizers prevail in the album for the creation of a floating atmosphere, which was a nice complement to Bornemann's psychedelic guitar parts.However the heavier guitar tones appear to reduce with each album and Eloy seem to move away from their Heavy Rock roots with each release.''Dawn'' was definitely the most symphonic of all Eloy albums at the time, containing a few Classical intros or outros on synths and organ and atmospheric backdrops throughout the tracks.The song structure was now a combination of psychedelic tunes, synth-drenched textures and symphonic nuances, while there are occasional breaks into more powerful moments with an extremely solid rhythm section and touches of Bornemann's past guitar stylings.His vocals are now displayed in a more storytelling style, which appear to be a good fit for his average voice, while the bass lines are delivered in deep, hypnotic grooves for an obvious tendency towards atmospheric progressive music.

The German PINK FLOYD, not a copy of course, Eloy were more symphonic than their English parallel and they still revisited their psychedelic rhythms of ''Floating'' and ''Inside'' for a personal and attractive progressive style of their own.''Dawn'' is a good example of this sound and a strongly recommended album...3.5 stars.