OSIRIS

With their debut album Osiris offer some very nice but not overly complex symphonic prog. All the songs rely heavily on keyboards, but the guitarist really shines with excellent solos popping up everywhere. The vocalist isn't super great, but is effective and doesn't detract from the music at all. Production quality is fairly good, perhaps surprisingly given that the band is from Bahrain, but there are a few moments where the vocals seem to get lost in the background a bit.

The best song on the album is easily Fantasy, which is actually phenomenally good - this album may well be worth purchasing for this track alone. It includes some great keyboards and wraps up with a very Camel-esque guitar passage.

Only slightly less amazing is the epic Sailor on the Seas of Fate. This opens with some very enjoyable Arabic-sounding drumming. The vocals are also really good on this track. As mentioned, the vocalist is by no means great, but this one suits his voice perfectly.

The rest of the listing isn't bad, but nothing really grabs like the first two tracks. They all feature soothing keyboards and there's at least one nice guitar passage per track. The instrumental Atmun is probably the best of the rest.

The CD reissue also comes with a bonus track: Look Before You Leap, which is more arena rock than anything. It wouldn't sound out of place on a Foreigner or Asia album. It's not a bad song if you like that sort of thing, and it's easy to skip otherwise.

Overall, this is an average symphonic prog album. Fantasy and Sailor on the Seas of Fate are masterpieces in themselves, however, so this gets a four.