MOONSPELL

Persephone's Dream are a female fronted progressive rock band hailing from America, and 'Moonspell' was their first album as a four-piece when Rowen Poole (guitars/keys) and Chris Siegle (bass/keyboards) were joined by Karin Nicely (vocals) and Ed Wiancko (drums). When I initially started playing the album I was taken not only by how strong the vocals and instrumentation were, but also on the care that had gone into the production and the atmospheric spoken introduction to the opening number, "Millennium Moon". I soon had the band's musical direction worked out, that they were a modern version of Renaissance, or did I?

By the time I had finished playing the album all the way through for the first time I found that not only was I impressed but also quite confused. There are just so many different strands being brought together, both lyrically and musically. Take "Learning Curve" for example. It is starts off gentle with plenty of acoustic guitar and folk influences, but the percussion on the first verse is quite at odds to the music and when the lyrics are listened to the realisation dawns that the song is dealing with the subject of date rape. As the songs progresses the electric guitar becomes much more important and the mood changes throughout the piece. Some of the songs are quite strange in their approach with "Earth Dreams" the longest on the album at over 12 minutes. It is quite a surreal instrumental, which has more than a hint of New Age, okay it is full blown New Age and in many ways is quite at odds with the rest of the album.

But overall did enjoy the album? A resounding "Yes". This is a prog band that is truly trying to be that, bringing together styles and music in a way quite dissimilar to others in the genre.

Originally appeared in Feedback #70, Oct 02