OUR TIME ON EARTH

Debut release of Compass by UK guitarist and singer-songwriter Steve Newman. A full 4-piece band with Ben Green - vocals, Steve Newman - guitar and keyboards, Dave Bartlett - bass, backing vocals and Toni Lakush - drums. I love this album, the style is influenced by some of my favorite bands; catchy melodies like Saga, solid guitar/drum rhythms like in Dream Theater and above all a very nice melodic voice by Ben Green. The end result is a nice mixture of progressive artrock and AOR, in my opinion. I like strong rock with vocalists who actually can sing a melody line. The vocals and guitars also reminded me of the almost-perfect albums I and II from Evership with Beau West (v) and James Atkinson (g). It seems there will be another album from Compass soon, so that's manageble. Favorite tracks: Skies of Fire, Our Time on Earth Pt. 1, A Warning from History and Another LIfe Suicide. Not 5/5 for me, not strictly essential, but very very promising.