ACROSS THE CIRCLE'S EDGE

WINTER are a MARILLION influenced band with an excellent guitarist who recalls Alex Lifeson at times. These guys are from Belfast, Northern Ireland and you can hear the accent in the singers voice. Please read Kruger's review in regards to the lineup controversy.

"Technocracy" opens with a cool guitar melody as drums come in and build. Vocals are next. They are strong and on the deeper side. Keys come and go. Amazing Lifeson-like guitar solo after 2 1/2 minutes. Great uptempo opener. "The Betrayal Of Reason" sounds like an eighties tune because of the vocal style and synths. This is my least favourite track, although it ends really well thanks to the guitar work of Rabb Beggs. "Close Your Eyes" is very much MARILLION influenced. After an uptempo intro with prominant drums and synths, the song settles right down with vocals, synths, and acoustic guitar. When it calms down it sounds so good. The album title is a line in the chorus. Some grinding guitar after 3 minutes turns into a killer solo. The tempo picks up before 4 minutes. Some theatrical vocals later. The best song so far.

"Evengate" is a short ballad of piano and fragile vocals. Quite touching actually. "Toybox" is almost 9 minutes long and is my favourite song on here. After a short atmospheric intro, pounding drums and a full sound arrive a minute in. Some strong vocals in this uptempo, catchy track. It calms down like in the intro 4 minutes in with FISH-like vocals. The song is building before 5 minutes. It calms back down a minute later. Check out the blazing guitar solo to follow. I always find it kind of cool when a band names a song after themselves. "Winter" is the only instrumental track on the album, and it's one of the better songs on here. After a tasteful intro we get a full sound including soaring guitar before a minute. Some more lightspeed playing by Beggs on guitar that simply goes on and on as drums pound away. Just an incredible display of guitar work.

If your a Neo-Prog fan try to track this one down. A solid 3 stars. I'm surprised this is their only recording, these guys were really good.