1910

Well you can start getting an inkling of their talent here, even though better things had to come afterwards...the "floydian" influence is always evident in their music, but it never disturbs the listener! The unique problem is the sense of ingenuousness in their symphonic breaks through (a few ones actually) and here you can't see their precise music direction. The maturity was achieved in a few years, even though They have never produced any masterpiece, but for sure They were able to give a personal imprinting to their compositions, of which you can have an idea by means of this "1910".

This band is often considered to be very much Floyd oriented but I couldn't find too much of this in their debut.

Actually, the music that is available here is rather boring to say the least. The big chunk consists of an ultra long track of about thirty-five minutes (yes, 35). OK it is split into two parts but still.Don't expect any SOYCD of course. There is no vital emotion in here, no vibrant passages, no inspiration. And when it lasts for this long amount of time, I confirm that the experience is not very pleasant.

Vocals are flat, music doesn't show any trace of a fine solo. A long and dull piece of .music? The content of this very long track is empty. Long tracks are fine when the inspiration is so high that the band needs to bring them over in an epic format. '' High Wheel in the Sky'' doesn't fall under this description.

The short ''Conjunction Of Upper Spheres'' is a decent neo-prog song with real connection to any model and the relatively long ''Outside the Circles'' has the same blatant limitations than the epic: lack of inspiration and dull vocals.

I don't like this album very much, it really doesn't speak to me. Two stars.

HIGH WHEEL's history begins in late-80's ,when Wolfgang Hierl and Erich Kogler set themselves apart from the thrash metal scene and their band ''The Hammers'',searching for more melodic and refined musical paths.Their new project would never become true,if they hadn't met excellent drummer Uli Jenne and after a few rehearsals they decided to form officially a new progressive rock act.With the addition of Andreas Lobinger on keyboards their debut ''1910'' came out in 1993 as a private press,recorded at Tonstudio Rixner near Tegernnsee.

Nothing on this release reminds of a German band,no cosmic music,no obscure synths.HIGH WHEEL sound a lot like an American band influenced by the British giants of the past,close to the likes of AKACIA or GLASS HAMMER with a little GENTLE GIANT throw in for good measure.The album consists of four tracks and three of them are over 11 minutes!There are some beautiful multi-vocal harmonies blended with trully complicated and dark musicianship led by Lobinger's keyboards (like the magnificent and very atmospheric clavinet parts),that bring GENTLE GIANT to mind.Melody is also present through some good guitar passages and decent Hammond organ,something like a hybrid between CAMEL and YES.HIGH WHEEL are most of all a rock band,so expect to hear a few groovy yet progressive rock music,not far from what KANSAS offered two decades ago.A mixed bag of progressive tunes with a lot of space for developing ideas.A recommended album.