THE GREAT DECEPTION

Albums opens with a dense rhythm accompanied by news reels and interviews connected to the Roswell incident. This sci-fi mystery pretty much sets the stage for the content of this album. 'The Great Deception' obviously deals with the prospect of alien presence on our planet, and the authorities' efforts to keep the truth hidden from public. Also, there is a certain sense of apocalyptic visions present in these tracks.

Seconds Before Landing is the project of John Crispino, who pretty much composes and performs many instruments, with great aid from a selection of most experienced musicians. Reading from the bands website, the album follows the conceptual idea of a dystopian world, mirrored through the mind of the composer. The use of spoken word and sound clips from newsreels and vintage radio commercials on top of instrumental parts is used with (mostly) great effect, although a bit exaggerated in places. Album ends with 'Message in a field' with narration of what is supposed to be message from aliens in the form of crop circles. The famous 'Crabwood alien' which depicts and alien shaped head accompanied with a (compact?) disc, encoded in 8-bit ASCII. A rather unpleasant and dystopian prophecy, but still with a glance of hope!

John Crispino sings on a number of the tracks, and quite successfully so! His somewhat fragile voice fits in very well with the mood on the vocal tracks. Musically, the album hovers around in the symphonic/bluesy prog landscape, with some soaring guitar work for the most part signed by the versatile notarity of Trey Gunn. Also Tim Bogert (from Vanilla Fudge, and Beck, Bogert and Appice) contributes on some tracks. Echoes of Pink Floyd are obvious, but in a modern context more closely linked to Porcupine Tree, and a number of bands associated with their pocket of 'Eclectic Prog' (Disconnect, Demians and even Peter Thelen's 't' project comes to mind). A few tracks lean too much towards plain pop music for my taste and some parts must be considered fillers, but with 14 tracks (mostly in 5-7 minute category), there are plenty of pieces to enjoy.

John Crispino thinks we are not alone. That certainly bargains for more musical journeys into sci-fi territory in the future. This debut is worth checking out for all of you sci-fi fans out there. 3.5 stars, rounded up for his devotion to the great mysteries of our time.

The truth is out there.