SILENT CRIES AND MIGHTY ECHOES

This was my first venture into the musical career of the band Eloy. The album name and album art really stuck out to me, and I had an unconscious voice screaming out to me to get this album immediately. The two things that stuck out upon my first listen were the bass and the vocals. The bass is very prominent and easily detectable throughout the whole album. For me, this is very enjoyable since I enjoy hearing the bass when I listen to music. The vocals of Frank Bornemann are also unique in a good or bad way. At first, I didn't care for the vocals because of his accent. After two or three more listens that problem went away, and now I find his vocals to be fitting to the spacey elements that inhabit this album musically and lyrically. What I find most interesting is how the vocals seem to flow with the music (or the music flows with the vocals?!) Other aspects on this album are that of the keyboards. The keyboards play a huge role in the development of each song's progression. The keys set the mood and atmosphere for each song (or section of a song). The guitar playing on this album is excellent, but at time it seems as though the guitar is completely absent. I can't quite discern if it's not even being played or if the bass and keyboards drown it out. When the guitar feels absent is when the keys are progressing a song forward or setting the mood. Lastly, the drumming is fairly good. There are a lot of percussion parts and it fits in nicely with the spaced out elements of each song.

Overall this album is excellent. When I played this album for my dad, he mentioned the Pink Floyd overtones. After having heard that, I can definitely hear a Pink Floyd influence, but not to fear! This is no Floyd rip off! The parallels are noticeable, but don't get lost in that one little detail and pass this album (or artist) over. Certainly a worthy album for any prog enthusiast.

Notable tracks: "Astral Entrance & Master of Sensation" and "De Labore Solis"