TRANSITION

Review # 72. For those who don't know them, I should inform you that Infringement is a quartet from Oslo, Norway. The band has been active for a couple of years now, and a few months ago, they released their debut album, Transition. The line-up is a typical Rock one, with Bass, Guitars, Drums and Vocals. For the needs of the recordings, 6 more musicians were used, in keyboards, sax, percussion and vocals. From these 'extra' musicians the name of Clive Nolan (in keyboards) is the one that 'shines' the most.

Their sound is a 'typical' Neo Prog' sound in my opinion, including many mellow moments, mixed with guitar riffs and interesting turns. Also, the presence of keyboards in making their sound richer, and for that reason, they should maybe consider having a keyboard player as their 5th member. Their overall style and sound are bringing to my mind bands like Arena, Pendragon and Marillion mostly, but every now and then you can discover influences from other Prog bands as well.

Transition includes 9 tracks and has a total time of almost 50 minutes. There isn't any real epic included, and the longest track is the almost-10-minutes-long Patina, with Clive Nolan on keyboards. The second longest track is Adolescence, which, further than Clive Nolan on keyboards (again), it also includes some very nice guitar work. The guitar player's performance is very good, and you will find many interesting and enjoyable riffs and solos throughout the album.

If this was a vinyl album, I would say that I really like the A-side far more than the B-side; because the first 4-5 songs are all very good ones. This is a good and very promising debut album without a doubt. Especially the fans of Neo Prog will appreciate it. Give it a try! Favorite songs: Conception, Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Passage. Since this is their first effort, let's spread the word around, and boost their confidence a little bit. My rating would be 4.0 stars