SEA OF LIGHT

Same line-up for the fourth album in a row. It is almost a record ! I hope that this album will be somewhat more intersting than the two previous one. There shouldn't be a lot of reason for that but who knows ?

Even if the opener "Against The Odds" is 100% hard-rock oriented, I think it is the best number since "Night of the Wolf" from "Equator". A very strong composition with a band playing at unison. Vocals are great and Mick is just wild on the guitar. Shall I be pleasantly surprised ? Unfortunately, my joy won't last for long since "Sweet Sugar" has nothing sweet to propose. Uninspired hard-rock again. The demons of their previous two albums come back. I only had hoped that other demons (and wizzards) would appear...

The band intelligently rebounds with "Time of Revelation" : an incredible and great number. Hard-rocking like hell. What a difference between those two last numbers : from boring to brilliant ! How comes ? A mystery for me. The Heep keeps on with good material with "Mistress Of All Time". A very nice rock ballad in which for the very first time since he joined, one can appreciate the subtle piano play from Lanzon.

Back again to the heavy numbers with "Universal Wheels". Still, the rhythm is very strong and the vocal part is rather good (except the narration with reminds me Jeff Wayne in "The War Of The Worlds". Again, Lanzon's work is very good here : he is pumping his keys almost like Hensley in the good old days ! I must be dreaming !

The Heep keeps on rocking with "Fear Of Failing". Well, if they keep on like this, there won't be any failure, but pleasantly a very good album. Great Box on the guitar. The bass and drumming are very powerful. Like the Heep ought to be. Long ago. It is a pleasure to listen to such tracks. A rebirth.

The introduction of "Spirit of Freedom" is very catchy, with another great (alas too short) guitar solo performed here. But the song turns out to be a bit too pop-rock oriented. Still, I prefer to listen to such songs than what the Heep has released before with the same line-up. It took them four years to release this album but it was well worth to wait.

This album also features longer songs. Five of them clock at almost six minutes which allow to investigate a bit more and deivate from the simple verse-chorus structure.

"Logical Progression" is another very good rock song. The mood of some numbers from "Conquest" (which I reasonably liked) is present here. Rock music like I was to desperate to hear on their two previous albums. "Love In Silence" is the longest song of this album. Although one could have anticipated another strong number, this one is rather weak in comparison with most of the songs during its initial section. After 2'30", it evolves into a good instrumental part (almost prog).

The first AOR song (but it is the tenth track) and not so interesting one is "Words in the Distance" and "Fires of Hell" sounds similar to what the band has achieved previously, which means a bit boring. The album closes with the acoustic ballad "Dream On". Somewhat syrupy to my taste. The last four number are a bit weak in comparison with the first part of the album. Even if the band took four years to release this album, it seems that it was difficult for them to hold the same good quality throughout this long album. Maybe a bit too long...

If you except their first five studio albums, this one might well be the best one the Heep has produced. I would have liked to rate it seven out of ten. Upgrading it to four stars seems a bit too high since several numbers are no real highlight. So, three stars for this good effort.

There won't be much more studio albums to come. Most will be live ones. Since this line- up performed quite well in this genre (I am referring to "Live In Moscow"), I guess that we'll still have good musical moments.