TOWARD THE SUN

This is an album that divides the symphonic prog lovers into two groups. One group of people will consider this a pointless album, too similar to YES and not original, and therefore dismiss it. The other group of people will agree on the matter of originality and YES similarities, but they don't dismiss the album. I belong to the second group. I don't care this album sound a lot like YES, in fact, it is a good thing. YES made excellent music, especially between 1972 and 1976, so sounding like YES during that period is a good thing. I personally believe, YES should have sticked more to their sound after Fragile and CttE, and not drifted of in vague complexity with TFTO and Relayer. Were YES left, this band and also Starcastle, took over. I'm glad they did. Since Druid does not create an original sound that amazed the world, they can never be rated with anything higher than 4 stars, in my opinion. This to mildly please the people in the first group who dismiss Druids music. I give this album 4 stars, because it sounds great overall, considering the time back then. The sound of the album is very prominent and concise. Consequently, no song jumps out. I like that as well. The vocals and harmonies are amazing, allthough very Jon Andersonishly, but still different and perfect in combination with the instruments. Best songs are: Voices, Theme and Remembering and Dawn of Evening.