CASTLES IN THE SAND

There are times when I feel guilty, and this is one of those as this album was released in 2008 yet it is towards the end of 2011 that I am writing about it. I can only apologise for tardiness and I am trying now to catch up on everything that I should have reviewed yonks ago. This was the follow-up to 'Signs', an album I really enjoyed, and yet again guitarist Geert Fieuw has delivered an extremely strong set of songs. The band is completed by Jo de Boeck (vocals), Genry Versteken (bass), Bruno Goedhuys (drums) and Danny Focke (keyboards) and they lay their wares clearly out for all to hear ? this is a band that enjoyed the Eighties and Nineties and saw no reason at all for their music to reflect anything else. Think Savatage, Uriah Heep and Queensryche with possibly some of their harder AOR cousins and you may get a feeling of what this is all about.

Yes, the band are not English or American (in fact they are Belgian) and it means that Jo has a slight accent but is that a problem? It may be for some but the last time I looked both Scorpions and Helloween were still managing to do very well for themselves, and so should these guys. During the lead up to this album they had toured in support to bands as diverse as Riverside, Jon Oliva's Pain, Doro and Sonata Arctica and I am sure that the metalheads and progheads all enjoyed these guys immensely. This is a powerful hard rock album with more than a nod to AOR and prog and one that all lovers of classic rock should get immediately.

Beyond the Labyrinth is one of the lesser known prog metal acts coming from Belgium. They released 3 albums since now that gone under the rader in prog circles. I reviewed the debut some years ago and I like what I've hered there so I decided to check the follow up. The follow up is named Castles in the send and was issued in 2008. Well, despitting some well executed instrumental parts , the overall album is usual stuff , at least for me, plus that the voice of Jo De Boeck doesn't add nothing new under the horizon in the overall sound. There are some great guitar chops and good keybords interluded, but is lacking in something to really grab this album a lot The forte pieces are Beyond The Labyrinth and the beautiful For Eternity with excellent keyboards. All in all decent , nothing more, and I think Castles in the sand is little less intresting then the debut. I should check their third one from 2011 to see how they manageing to evolve. 3 stars for me, ok but far from excellent.