NOVOX

This band was totally new to me till yesterday but because it's a Dutch band and I bought it in a large Dutch store I managed to get hold of it probably. Obviously originating from CLIFFHANGER, a band that already had quite a name in the Dutch progworld.

And listening to this debut there can be detected hints to Cliffhanger but also to FM, TANGERINE DREAM, ELP, YES, KALABAN and ODYSSICE although I have to say that some of these comparisons have to do with the all-instrumental status of some of those bands. I think it's fair to say that Novox is original enough to claim a style of their own and there will always be influences and resemblances with other bands. After some checking out of the booklet it appears by the way that not only this band has links to Cliffhanger but also to Knight Area. Some of the (guest) members also appear in the line up of this by now famous Dutch neo progband.

I can also appreciate that this band made an all instrumental album. First because I like those anyway (vocals and lyrics are not really important to me) and second because apparently they didn't have a singer and unlike what some other progbands do (let the least poor vocals do the job) this band probably decided to leave it and make all instrumental music, that's what I call intelligence. Of course it's also possible they really wanted to make all instrumental music, in that case forget my statement.

If I compare the album and music with f.i. ODYSSICE the main difference is that Odyssice has a strong domination of the guitar which I personally like a lot but it causes a repititive element in the sound of the band. This is not the case with Novox. Not only do they give all instruments equal attention and playing time but it also creates a big diversion in the bands sound. All in all there is a slight edge for the keyboards but that is not unfair when the keyboardist created the band and another thing is he uses the wide spectrum of his keyboards by playing a complete pianotrack (almost classical) on the 7th track. But there is more variation. The 5th track f.i. is pretty prog metal all over sudden sounding a bit like Knight Area at its toughest. Really great track.

Other favourites of mine are the 2nd, 9th and 12th track. Here they score really high in the melodic and compositional aspects as well as with virtuosity. So I think we can call this a pretty impressive debut by Novox. I hope we will here more from them in the future. 4 stars for this (3,9).