CIRCUIT REWIRING

have to admit that my ears were wilting somewhat after a preponderance of Prog Metal.

Don't get me wrong, metal runs in my blood but after the onslaught I seem to have faced of late, one bands output seems to meld into another.

This album came as a pleasant surprise and put me in mind of a whole raft of bands from my yoof. Kayak, Fish-era Marillion are the more obvious and have been noted by others, but the Gabriel-esque tones of singer Frank Centauri make me recall Lake from the 70's and 80's or even Kayak's Max Werner from their early 70's output. Indeed, in the early days of their career Kayak where often branded with a Genesis soundalike tag which I found unfair.

Some of this superb music has tinges of Pavlov's Dog (particularly on the ballad 'Banyan Tree' with it's rather peculiar keyboard solo) and a little of the quirkiness of early Saga. I had to do a double take with the last cut 'Descent of the Dyad'. It's typical of the sort of title Kayak would have written and of course without my old duffers specs on I misread it as 'Dryad'. Apparently Dyad is correct and it means two or double, it's says on my favourite online dictionary.

If you like a melodic symphonic prog then there are nine very fine tracks here to enjoy. I suspect that the more upbeat numbers here will seem a little poppy to some and the purists might dismiss this one with the aforementioned Genesis label, but I found all nine hugely enjoyable. My only grouch has to be the length of the songs, most of which come in at about 4-5 minutes. Enough to pack in soloing and some excellent choruses.

I confess I've not heard their earlier efforts and on this evidence I will correct this clear oversight.

Recommended.

Ghiribizzi lates album to date from 2010 named Circuit rewiring is little diffrent then the predecesor, to my ears is more towards mainstream neo prog, more on rockier side and less on progressive side. That duel between keybords and guitars from Pan'ta rhei here are gone, taking place a much lighter sound but also more on rock side, the progressive elements are of course here, but less present. It's obvious because the complexity of the pieces are not so over the top, less lenghty , longest has 6 min the Chapter II of Valleys of Gold. So, a good album, nothing realy impressive follow up after their best release to date Pan'ta rhey, the sound and attitude is ok, but I prefer previous one by far, the rating here showing 4 stars is not true for me, because Panta rhey is much better and has lower rate. Hardly 3 stars, not bad, not something special either, an ok album that can be passed easely to someone else.