WE CAN FLY

Twenty-six long years after "Timecode", a very average album (with only Martin EDEN and Udo LANG from the original formation) the Germans of CHANDELIER return to us today with this promising "We Can Fly" with three new friends including the keyboardist and producer Armin RIEMER, the rhythm pair being the original 1986 Christoph TIBER on bass guitar and Herry RUBARTH on drums and percussion.

The apparent lightness of the opening track "Space Controller" is deceptive, as we will see later, half sung, half spoken, by the recognizable voice of Martin EDEN, the two soloists Udo LANG on guitars and Armin RIEMER compete in ingenuity and complete very well, a very catchy piece (9/10), could the "Space Controller" be the flying seal on the cover? Regardless, it's one of the two best pieces on the album.

"Help Me" which follows it is more rock, more mainstream, with Toni MOFF MOLLO who was the singer of GROBSCHNITT from 1979, marked by a brilliant organ solo and the six strings of Udo LANG in the finale which keeps the piece at a good level (7/10), a title undoubtedly built for live performance. The long "Spring" and its ten minutes is somewhat in the same movement, Armin RIEMER fiddles with his keys in a technoid way at times and it is again the magician of the guitar who brings light from 4:24 and gives to the piece energy and lyricism at the same time (9/10); We will also remember from this title the numerous "We Can Fly" which inspired the name of the album.

"In Between" is a classic lament led by the strings of the second guest Rudiger BLOMER, sung in two voices by Martin and Toni, pleasant without more because very repetitive (7/10). "Mixed Magnificent Arts", of a duration equivalent to the previous piece, is a frenzied rock in its first third, much calmer in its second and new rock in its third and still Udo LANG and his inventive guitar which saves the title from its linearity (6/10). As you now know I do not (or no longer) rate titles shorter than three minutes, so "Light" is essentially valid for its organ solo over its entire duration.

The peplum "Forever and a Day" offers us more than fifteen minutes in the hourglass, the surf of the sea, the cries of the seagulls, the serious and declaimed singing of Toni MOFF MOLLO, and the six strings of the master to illuminate the whole ( fortunately.....), a very Grobschnittian passage at 4:25 (coincidence?) until 7:50 before Armin RIEMER delivers us a wild synthesizer solo worthy of the best of the genre, I can't tell you why but this piece bothers me a little, the impression of a collage of passages that don't necessarily fit together? (8.5/10), as they sometimes say, many listens will be necessary...I find the singing too omnipresent a shame for me who usually appreciates instrumental digressions! The sailors party in a bar near the port before boarding (Sail on, Sail on?)

A good album but in a year as rich as 2023, the comparison with some is complicated to say the least and not in favor of the Germans. original review edited on profilprog.com