MORPHIOS

Swiss progsters Deep Thought were born in 1993 in Basel, when keyboardist Dominik Pfleghaar met guitarist Marcel Oehler through an ad.Through many line-up changes and an occasional break-up, Deep Thought released a demo tape in 1996 and survived until 1997, when things turned around with the arrival of Dominik Rudmann on bass, Patrick Merz on vocals and Lukas Reinhard on drums.The result of these joinings was the debut demo CD ''Morphios'', named after the Greek god of dreams, in 1998.

Deep Thought play well-crafted Neo Prog with occasional symphonic leanings, warm vocals but also plenty of fine instrumental themes and melodies.At their worst they sound like a poor man's version of AMENOPHIS or TWIN AGE with strong MARILLION references.Decent Neo/Symphonic Progressive Rock with lots of synths leading the way and interesting guitar lines, the vocals are sensitive and slightly accented, but at the end the compositions have nothing new to add to the saturated Neo Prog scene.At their best though Deep Thought have much to offer, sounding like a cross between the demanding moments of COLLAGE and IQ.Great distorted guitars next to very dramatic keyboards and striking instrumental sections, very good musicianship with shifting moods and a fair amount of breaks.Especially the instrumental themes are mostly atmospheric with a big symphonic sound at moments and will please all fans of dramatic Progressive Rock, the vocal ones though are a bit flat to my ears.

Undiscovered band with a conveincing mix of Neo Prog with Symphonic Rock.Recommended, though this demo CD is quite hard to find.