ARTIFICIAL PARADISE

This is the quintessential progressive rock album - plenty of catchy rock-style compositions, with enough progressive elements to keep you coming back time after time. There are very few bands that successfully marry the instant appeal of "pop-rock" hooks with the depth and musicianship necessary to hold the listener's interest after a dozen or more spins of the record - but on this album, Sylvan deliver in spades.

The songs cover a variety of styles and moods, from the catchy up-tempo "I Still Believe" to the funky "Strange Emotion" and the heavy "Human Apologies". The closing track "Artifical Paradise" is an awesome 20-minute epic that really demonstrates all aspects of the bands musicianship and compositional skills. Although the songs range widely in style and feel, I can't identify a single weak track on this album.

Marco Gluhmann's vocals are distinctive and powerful, and he infuses his lyrics with a great deal of emotion - perfect for this style of music. The guitar work throughout this album is outstanding - some solid riffing combined with plenty of tasy melodic soloing work that puts many better-known guitarists to shame. Matthias Harder provides some very interesting and complex drum-work, but avoids overplaying his hand unlike so many drummers of his capabilities. Keyboards and bass are also very solid, nicely rounding out the Sylvan sound without being overly "busy".

If comparisons to other bands must be made, I would rank Sylvan along with Threshold or Dead Soul Tribe, although I think they have more variety and range than either of these bands, and are more progressive.

I enjoyed this album immediately on first listen, and after many years it's still one of my favourite progressive-rock albums.