DIMENSIONAUT

I came to find out about Sound of Contact not because of Genesis, but because I am also a recent fan of Simon Collins having picked up his album U-catastrophe and I happened to be on his emailing list. I also had the pleasure of meeting Simon at a Marillion Convention in March. The similarities between Simon and his father are uncanny from drumming to singing. The new Album Dimensionaut is, yes, a concept album, and yes a progressive rock album, but believe it or not, there are several radio friendly songs. Not Coming Down, Closer to You, Pale Blue Dot, Only Breathing Out, and Remote View come to mind. The rest of the songs are quite progressive and harken to Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Hogarth era Marillion, and who am I forgetting, oh yeah, Genesis. The best song (in my opinion) on an album of very good songs is Beyond Illumination. The influence of Peter Gabriel is strong here and with the addition of Hannah Stobart it harkens back to Gabriel and Kate Bush duets in the `80's and Simon's voice and singing style seems to fit smack dab in the middle of Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. I don't want to just focus on Simon as it's apparent Dave Kerzner is also a driving force in the band. He is quite talented on keyboards and has that uncanny ability to compliment Simon's heavy drumming that gives this album the hard edged feeling of a rock band with the orchestral element that most Progressive Bands have. This album is a must have for Progressive Rock fans, but I also feel any lover of Rock Music and true musicians will enjoy this album.