THE RUINS OF A GLASS FORTRESS

As usual it's another derivative work from Japan, in the vein of UK or ELP, whose technical aspects are evident, thanks also to Toshio Egawa's keyboards, but I don't think it's enough to make the present album a must-have (actually it's not recent at all, being produced in the course of 2000) ...first of all their classic prog "steers" in the direction of such metal prog (think of Dream Theater); secondly it seems an album by Yngwie Malmsteen, where They try to demonstrate They're fast as well as virtuosic in their execution, especially talking about their skill. Fortunately our favourite prog music is special thanks to other features, such as the sense of melody, the creativity or the intelligent dinamycs within the same suite. Are Gerard able to do that? I'm not sure about it and - moreover - the Japanese accented vocalist (Jean-Luc "F. Nazaki") - when He sings in his personal English - is just a little bit tiresome..nevertheless you can find some interesting characteristics inside: for example the bass guitar solo within "Freedom" or their attempt to emulate Il Banco of the Golden Age (the period concerning "Darwin"), during the interplay between the organ and the other instruments.

Then their experience and the sense of maturity too, taken directly from other live performances all over the world, are able to hide their defects quite well (I think of bands like Novela or Scheherazade for instance, always Japanese, sometimes touring in Europe in small gigs, winking at the Italian prog and at Renaissance by A. Haslam as well, to understand their purpose)...after all the bombastic albums by Ars Nova (probably the most acclaimed band of Italian classic prog style in Japan), whose members are determined women, doesn't represent the only way to play prog music in Japan...so at the end make your own choice regarding the collection of Japanese prog!!