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ALASKAAlaskaSymphonic Prog |
From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website
The good news is that these musicians have made a credible effort to revisit the true spirit
of Yes. They lay out some really interesting parts. Especially the longer epic songs climb to
some degree of majesty. The politically relevant Tienanman Square is an astounding piece
of labour. Its development of themes and melodies really sets an example. Too bad the
production of the whole record is too clean, since this is a typical studio project. It lacks
sharpness in performance.
To me this does't sound like Yes or Tormato at all (See band biography). Tormato has loads of guitar and bass driving it. Alaska has almost no guitar and very weak drums and bass. The vocalist sounds like he is singing out of his range and even flat at times. Keyboards are what dominate this
album and pretty much define the sound. The closest they get to Tormato might be "Circus
of Heaven"
Alaska is a band that incorporates in their music sounds and symphonic elements from Yes and Starcastle.
Al Lewis is the voice and drumer of Starcastle so it's clear that this band is influenced by them. This is
symphonic music with very nice passages, nice keyboard works through the album, but sometimes i think
is to mellow. Anyway good effort by the band, some strong compositions are Museum Dreams ( great
vocal harmonies) and the longest track from here Tiananman Square. All in all 3 stars album for me, still
to some of you is a copy of Yes and Starcastle but to me is a good symphonic album that has some
highlights here and there. Pleasent most of the time, good but non essential, for fans who listen Yes, Starcastle, Legacy.
Good band name; bad music.The references to YES and STARCASTLE is very evident. The album is keyboards driven to the extreme. Pompeous keyboards, that is. Some tasty guitars are included too, but keyboards is the main instrument here. The sound is also very American with clear references to film music, New Age and AOR music. ALASKA may be up in the north on the map, but music wise this music is in the middle of USA with it's pomp AOR songs. Symphonic prog ? Sort off..... But more of the sterile sort and not the madcap ELP sort of symphonic prog. I find no similarities between ELP and ALASKA.
The music on this album is pretty generic and boring. No elements of surprises. Just a run through a very familiar territory. A couple of half decent songs is the only saving grace here. That's all I want to say. This is not my cup of tea.
2 stars
ALASKA Alaska ratings only
chronological order | showing rating only
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Tonny Larz
(Tonny Larsen)
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Cokus
(Ariel A Codera)
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maribor
(Rok)
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drain-o
(Jacques Brenier)
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inCognito710
(inCognito)
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rdtprog
(Louis)
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Heavy, RPI, Symph, JR/F Canterbury Teams
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Redy60
(Radoslav Glushkov)
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rpaez
(Rafael)
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profburp
(Fourmont)
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fluiddruid
(Antal Molnár)
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Jonda Thorn
(Steve Donaldson)
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Jihnik1958
(Evgeniy)
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asturias
-
crimsogenes
-
jacobaeus
(Alberto Nucci)
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Soul2Create
(David Romera)
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puzart
(Artur)
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chrisrk
(Chris Kukielka)
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dukeofmar
-
Sergio Saldes
(Sergio Saldes)
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dyyigor1958
(Igor)
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ProgRocksFriheim
(Bjørn Wigdel)
-
The Rock
(Alain Mallette)
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