THE MASQUERADE OVERTURE

Well this kind of progressive is closer to such mainstream music than the whole 70's Romantic-Progressive stuff. Nevertheless you can find some songs with taste, pleasant melodies and also the guitar style in the vein of Andy Latimer by CAMEL in some circumstances. It adds a certain personal imprinting, even though if you compare the present album to their debut "The Jewel", it is not completely equal from the point of view of its composition. "The Jewel" was a true promise, regarding the birth of a new style (except on the first commercial track "Higher Circle" and the weak production as well!), some years later abandoned for a secured operation of emulation.

This "Masquerade Overture", apart from a certain lack of ingenuity in some passages, is worth checking out!! Listen for example to the stunning interplay between the keyboards and the guitar within the track "The Guardian of my Soul" or the sensible "As Good as Gold" which is characterized by another interplay between Clive Nolan and NIck Barrett, this latter being anyway more in evidence from the point of view of the harmonic solutions, even though the structure is simple. Instead the song "The Shadow" is the most accessible one, within this good album.

It's recommended to the fans of the "melodic New-Progressive genre" only!!