THE STORM INSIDE

Surprise! Surprise! One of the first things that strike me is the Collage like guitar sound on the first track, while also the use of keyboards and the melody itself also comes close to Collage's "Moonshine" (a 5 star album). The following quiet vocal part however sounds less derivative. The vocals are, although a little accented, quite good and especially the precise use of multiple voices is well-done. The mood of the song then changes quite dramatically with loud ruffles and the style of Arena is evoked. In this rather short song quite a few moods are evoked, but although all of the parts are nice, the parts are maybe a little too unrelated. Still, top notch melodic progressive. The moodiness of the first part of "Another Day" goes into a part that also features the string-like sounds of Marillion's The Space, while the second part contains a vocal melody reminding me a lot of Collage again. "Falling Star" sounds more original and is a very melodious ballad with great singing. After this rather short song, we come to the next 10+ minutes track, "Birth". Again, a very striking vocal melody, this time with some acoustic guitar in the back. Later on this track picks up speed with alternating solo's on the keyboards and guitar. After the strong build up (on guitar) in "Prince X", the title track opens with a cackling typewriter, acoustic guitar and soft keys. After this somber opening, the music becomes more up-tempo and rather Kelly like, while halfway Pendragon peeks around the corner and the music becomes very positive sounding. The song ends majestically. "Never Abandon" reminds me quite a lot of the time that Jens van der Stempel sang with Egdon Heath. This seems a rather ballad-like track with varied vocalization. "The closer", again, passes the 10 minute mark and the title may remind you of Pink Floyd, but to my feeling it's mostly Pendragon here. Barely an original album that owes a lot to progressive bands such as Marillion, IQ, Pendragon and Collage, but to be honest, if the quality of the songs is so high throughout, I don't mind. This applies both to the compositions, melodies as well as playing and singing. As such a recommended album, where you'll hear some familiar echoes, while enjoying the music. For me it's a 4.5 star rounded-up to 5