VIRTUAL WORLD

I got interested in this band and album mainly after listening to the PA stream track Space Travel. And when I saw this album for sale here, I thought let's give it a try. After all, it's neo prog and I'm making it my mission to check out as many bands possible in this subgenre.

The album starts with a spacy short track called Welcome, probably meant as such. A quiet opener, not too impressive bud not bad either, 2,75*.

Next is a vocally dominated song called Forgotten Signs, much more energetic than the opener. But not really a song with special features, an average, accessible song, another near 3 star effort.

Third up is Flying Clowns, a song that starts as an instrumental but is halfway accompanied by unusual vocals, not my cup of tea to say the least, high pitched in a disturbing way, 2,5*.

Neptune is the fourth in line that makes me wonder: where is the high class that was evident in the stream track ? It's not on this one either despite a nice instrumental part in the middle. Starts to become a slightly disappointing effort by DCP, 2,75*.

Then it's Space Travel's turn, a high class guitar instrumental, I can advice everyone to check it out on PA. This is the neo I hoped for all through the album but it appears they picked the best track for the streaming purpose. Clever but not entirely fair, I feel. 4,5 stars for this great track.

Virtual World unfortunately goes on in the same way as the first four. The awful vocals are back in this one. I really do wonder who would appreciate this kind of singing. I for sure don't. 2*

Transmutation is the only track not composed by the band as the booklet says. It starts with some fast guitar play, then turning in a vocal song, this time the normal vocalist. Some well meant advice for the band: let this guy do the job in the future on all tracks. Good song but again not outstanding: 3*.

Vicarious Satisfaction is in the end second best track of the album, another accessible track but in a fine way. But also this catchy song is worth no more than 3,25*.

Shadows is the last real song of this release, the third with the high vocals. This time he's trying to use them in a raw way at times and somehow this is the least annoying of the three contributions because I have to admit he uses his voice in many different ways and that's at least special. 2,75*.

Rhythm part II is a very short, percussion dominated closer, not significant and too short to rate.

Conclusion: On the positive side 1) it's an album with variation, not dull and monotonous at all. 2) It has a true highlight which is always a plus . In negative sense: 1) one of the two vocalists is almost ruining the whole thing for me 2) Apart from the sole highlight there is not really enough to enjoy, at least for my taste. All in all just about three stars for me but without the great track it could have been one less. I really don't understand if a band has the potential shown in Space Travel is not doing more with their possibllities. I challenge them to do this. Maybe in their recent release they prove it. I will contemplate to check it out.