BROKEN HOPES

I remember vividly that I received a demo-tape from this band when I was working for a Dutch progrock magazine in the early Nineties. The recording quality was a bit sloppy but I liked the pleasant atmosphere with strong hints from early Marillion. More than 15 years later I received this new album, this is my second musical encounter with Albion while they have made five albums in the meantime.

After a short first track that contains Hitler his horrible voice, I notice again strong early Marillion echoes in the long and compelling second composition entitled The Place (almost 12 minutes): the guitar player sounds as the Polish twin-brother of Steve Rothery and the synthesizer flights strongly evoke Mark Kelly. Halfway we can enjoy a raw guitar solo with lush organ and in the final part a slow saxophone solo, this is obviously not early Marillion inspired! In the other seven songs the climates range from dreamy to often compelling with wonderful female vocals, lots of howling guitar solos and now and then a flashy synthesizer solo (like in Angel) or bombastic eruptions like in Once Upon A Time and the strong This Is The Way Where We Go (beautiful final part with exciting guitar - and keyboard work). The final track evokes Mostly Autumn: first twanging acoustic guitar with high pitched vocals, then a moving atmosphere with fluent synthesizer runs and in the end a sensitive guitar solo, simply wonderful!

For me this new musical meeting after many years was a very pleasant one. I like the modern and elaborate album with strong female vocals, outstanding guitarwork and tasteful keyboards. Incredible how many good progrock bands Poland delivers at this moment, from Riverside, Osada Vida and Satellite to Quidam, Exodus and . Albion! My rating: 3,5 stars.