TO THE WORLD OF THE FUTURE

'To the world of future' is somewhat of a surprise. The songs sound more modern than on the predessors while the theme of the album, as the title states, offered the band to wander beyond the paths they had already gone. That is already shown in the title track where the keyboards create a very peculiar sound, taking the listener into some kind of sf- world. The more or less spoken text, followed by a beautiful and strong melodic outburst by both Jerney Kaagman and her fellow band members, are another gem of the title track. And more beautiful is to come. 'Voice from yonder' is another example of a song that takes you into unknown worlds. It contains a sample of a real seance (but what is real here?) at the start and during an intermission halfway the song, making it all quite weird but also very exciting to listen to. Add the formidable voice of Jerney and you'll have a great song. 'The last seagull' is simple but very effective. On the sound of a rushing tide and screaming gulls a nice instrumental piece is heard, very moody and very melancholic. In fact all the long songs on the album are very good. They are melodic, spacy, haunting and beautiful. Inbetween are the short tracks. They more of less disturb the album in one way because they wake you up out of a spacey mood. That counts the least for 'How time flies' that fits quite well but especially 'Only time will tell' and 'Love of life' don't fit in at all. While they are very nice songs themselves they simply don't work on the album. Earth & Fire should have recorded one of two of those long, spacy songs and they would have made a masterpiece. Now it is very enjoyable, together with 'Song of the marching children' and 'Atlantis' easily their best album but it could have been more.