SUBMARINE SILENCE

SUBMARINE SILENCE are a trio from Italy with two of the members (Roversi & Cremoni) coming from MOONGARDEN. This is an all instrumental concept album that has a strong GENESIS flavour to it. It's unusual to hear a band that sounds so much like GENESIS but without those Gabriel-like vocals. Paul Whitehead even did the album cover. Lots of acoustic guitar and mellow music with some outbreaks here and there. Lots of sampled mellotron as well. This sounds really good but is maybe a little too tame for my tastes.

"The Door" is a short keyboard intro. "Bicycle Ride From Earth To Saturn" opens with a beat as synths come in and play over top. Guitar joins in. Keyboards lead before 2 1/2 minutes then the mellotron rolls in. Nice. The guitar and mellotron before 4 minutes to the end are definitely one of the highlights on the album for me. "Elven's Lullaby" is led by acoustic guitar early before the electric guitar comes in before 3 minutes as synths wash in. "Mr. Submarine's Ordinary Day (Part1)" opens with aggressively strummed guitar like on "Tommy" by THE WHO before a fuller sound kicks in around a minute. It's heavier a minute later. I like the drums here. A calm with acoustic guitar before 4 minutes. Mellotron before 6 minutes.

"Winter Glows" opens with acoustic guitar. Synths join in. A fuller sound before 3 minutes as the drums and electric guitar join in. The guitar that follows soars. "Venice,A Spooky Love Story" opens with mellotron. Nice. Strummed guitar 2 minutes in and keyboards late. "Mr.Submarine's Ordinary Day (Part 2)" features acoustic guitar and atmosphere. Keys come in late. "Shores Where Time Stands Still" opens with acoustic guitar and atmosphere. Drums before 1 1/2 minutes. It's very GENESIS-like here. It settles again after 3 minutes. "Red Sun" opens with piano. Mellotron a minute in and the guitar soars before 2 minutes. "Porto Di Venere" ends the album with a beat and lots of atmosphere. A great way to end it.

Another good album from the Mellow Records label.