NEXT STATION (AS NEXT STATION)

A few days ago, I had an interview with Marco, and he told me that he considers Next Station as the continuing of The River, thematically at least. To my ears, the two albums, share a common ground, but on the other hand are different. First of all, Next Station includes only 6 songs, with 2 of them being a lot over 10 minutes in length, wherein The River the longest track was 9 minutes long.

Another important fact is that Next Station sounds more mature and more 'free' in style, mixing influences from many different music styles. But this time, the influences are not as clear as before. There were some songs included in The River, that with the first listen, sounded similar with bands like Marillion of Pink Floyd for example. In this album there is no such thing. The sound and style became more personal, and this is a good thing without a doubt.

For the needs of the recordings, Marco worked with some very good singers who should be mentioned. I don't know if the names Nad Sylvan, Robbie Wyckoff and G'ran Edman mean anything to you, but all of them are excellent singers, who during their career worked with some big artists/bands, like Roger Waters, Steve Hackett, Yngwie Malmsteen and Karmakanic, to name a few. As for the instruments, Marco plays almost everything by himself, with the drums being the only exception. Speaking for myself, I consider Next Station as a step forward in comparison with The River, in almost everything. This is a serious and well-made piece of work. Give it a try! My rating: 4 stars