SCIENCE OF COINCIDENCE

Their last album "The Vision Pit" was quite a disappointment as far as I'm concerned. One of their assets was the excellent lead vocals from Damian who unfortunately left the band in the meantime. But he is replaced by Tracy Hitchings who is performing quite alright.

I quite like the fully Floydean intro of "The Vision Pit" (even if it sounds as clone of the great SOYCD). Most of the track features ambient mood during which keyboards are pretty enjoyable and the usual Uwe's great guitar work which can be fully appreciated as well. This song is very good. It was quite a while that the band didn't produce such a good one. The closing section is pure melody and happiness. A highlight of course.

The shorter tracks (total of three: the title song, "Heritage" and " Between Sleeping and Dreaming") are less achieved and sounds as fillers. This album could have been somewhat shorter and would also have gained in vigour if some of these would have been skipped. Not too much harm though?

The fully neo and pop "Summer Madness" is truly joyful and dynamic. Even if the summits of music aren't reached, it remains decent and offers some enjoyable vocals and guitar parts which should please any neo-prog fan.

It is of course not easy to switch from the powerful Damian's voice to the delicate one (but still very effective) from Tracy. It is particularly true during "Lighthouse". She is quite moving in her role but I can't help comparing. I prefer the instrumental parts in this track.

The second best song form this offering is again the very Floydean oriented "The Overlook". Uwe is again superb and the Banks oriented synths are rather convincing as well. From then onwards, the "Genesis" sound is more marked than Floyd's one.

I would say that this is a good album which probably lacks of personality. Seven out of ten (but shy of the four star rating). The band is apparently working on a new release which should see the light in 2009.