NOTHING IS WRITTEN

I am not a big fan of Neo prog and I bought this group without knowing anything about them. While I will admit this isn't my cup of tea there are few noteworthy things here. Motherland for one. This is song that seems to fit the musicians and the singer well. Aquba is the same until the annoying vocals come in. In a positive note it reminds of the American group Touch when the vocals are present but then that album came out in the 60's.

I think it is the vocals that really bother me about this CD. Stuart Nicholson is maybe trying to point back to people like Peter Hammill or even Fish but it comes out contrived and sometimes downright bad. His voice works much better on a song like Don't Lose Control where it is more straightforward. The keyboard and bass player work very well together and the guitar when it is allowed is pretty good as well. The drums seem a little sparse and the whole thing is under produced and maybe because of the time period it came in. The band doesn't work so well on numbers like Chambers of Horrors and Evaporation songs that just dont seem to do anything or go anywhere.

All in all it is an OK album not one I would reach for very often and given the reviews of subsequent albums that are better this one may be for fans and the completion minded anyways. 2 Stars.