POWER AND THE PASSION

The impression that lingers after the first listening of this album is that for a concept album the story is rather corny... and it is. Gordon Bennit who wrote the lyrics may disagree here. The intended message is there alright the but plot itself is like that of a low-budget movie.

But who cares about the plot? I know I don't. Rendered in the true Eloy tradition with Frank Bornemann's Germanic version of English - something that remained constant in future recordings too - it sounds somewhat unique but this does not spoil anything at all. Bornemann's distinct accent is a part of the Eloy atmosphere and frankly the vocals sound great and I like them as they are. That said, let's move on to the music itself.

Eloy do themselves proud here. Although as I said the story is corny, the composition of each track sounds so very appropriate and serve to transfer the intended sentiment to the listener's ears. It is all there, the fear, the hope the agony and of course the love of the main characters. This album is also indicative of the direction that Eloy were to follow in their next albums with a lot of weight being placed on synthesizers, Mellotron, and the electric piano. This becomes more obvious in tracks such as "Love Over Six Centuries," "Imprisonment," and "The Bells of Notre Dame" whereas in others such as "Daylight," and "Back Into the Present" the hard-rocking roots of earlier Eloy albums is evident. And one has to mention "The Zany Magician", a smoking track in the best tradition of its kind. It is especially here that the presence of the second guitarist Detlef "Pitter" Schwaar makes the difference with both guitarists delivering something to remember the album by. And I can't begin to describe the feelings of hearing this live in concert either :-)

A highly recommended album.

Costas Giannakenas (NucDoc)