LUNAR CHATEAU

3.5 stars really

A long forgoten and totaly unknown name from USA - Lunar Chateau in ther short career they released only 2 albums. First in 1994 and second offer some years after in 2001 named Beyound the reach of dreams. The band was formed by brothers Sekulovitch - Novak on keyboards and vocals, Paul on bass and Milo on drums, all three done a good job here. The music is intresting, at least for my ears, is a cross between symphonic progressive rock with energic moments, spacey passages and some new age in parts moments, all three genres are well melted here for sure. 6 pieces are here all are more then ok minus the atmospheric track who is quite unintresting face the rest of the album. The music is based specially on keyboards with melodic energic passages and excellent musicianship, in places they remind me of another american obscurity named Tryptic who released their excellent Rabble Gadgets Divine few years back. Anyway good towards great album, little known in prog circles. some very fine and quite catchy parts here. 3.5 stars for sure.

The story of LUNAR CHATEAU begins back in 1992,when they were formed by brothers Novak,Paul and Milo Sekulovich on keyboards, bass/lead vocals and drums respectively.They recorded their first eponymous album in 1994 at Music Head Recorders in Wisconsin,mixed by Richard Denhart,who has worked with Andrew Belew and David Bowie.The same year they signed with Musea Records,which distributed the work worldwide...

...a work of light-weight progressive rock with a touch of spaceness and a few pop-vocal leanings.LUNAR CHATEAU seem to be great fans of E.L.P.,and actually they sound a lot like a less bombastic version of MASTERMIND,a band also influenced by E.L.P...The album contains a lot of heavy keyboard doses,led by Novak Sekulovich, with some FLOYD-ian work on the distinctive guitar parts.All tracks are quite melodic and generally the musicianship is supported by great and ethereal vocal parts,which add a pop flavor to the whole effort,reminding a lot of Canadian band VISIBLE WIND.Surprisingly these few pop leanings work extremely well and LUNAR CHATEAU's debut is worth purchasing for its emotional atmoshere blended with well-crafted melodies.

A fine offering by this little reviewed band. Very pleasant to the ears and with rather distinctive vocals. Fans of symphonic prog will feel at ease from the start as the melodies are never offensive. The first couple of tracks are somewhat poppy for me. This album gets interesting with the third track Consequences II which pushes the envelope a bit more still maintaining a beautiful feel. This tracks is more adventurous than the previous and is a clear sign of things to come. The main course here track 5 and 6 clearly breaking new ground (at least on this album) the title track typical of neo-prog in my humble opinion a bit self righteous but still interesting and Zeta Reticula probably the best piece as far as composition. The musicianship is excellent and their second album keeps a promise of better things to come...talent is there all they need now is a touch more creativity to forge their masterpiece. Clocking below 40 minutes I believe they have plenty more to say and they have my interest going...

I came across this one in old CDs of a friend of mine, who's deep into AOR and Pomp Rock. Later I found LUNAR CHATEAU here on PA, and decided to check their music out.

So, we have a nice brotherhood trio here...but nothing like ELP or GERARD, it's more like ALAN PARSONS without guitar or any other 80s AOR-related Prog. Nice melodies, vocals are too sweet and lack emotions, I think, but musicianship is pretty good and the sound quality is fine as well (though some parts seem to be played by PC-soft instruments, not the real ones). Closer to CD's end some really interesting things emerge (drum solo of 'Fearless' and 8-min long well-structured 'Aurora Borealis' epic), but the only piece I really like here is 'Ancestors' (ironically, almost typical AOR-like ballad), others fail to impress me that much. Nothing special, but if you're Neo/AOR collector or looking for 80s' ELP clone, check LUNAR CHATEAU out.

Well this is an American version of Alan Parson Project, with hints of ELP (in the lighter vein)and something else resembling the stuff by Camel too,which is not bad!!

It's a keyboard oriented trio from Wisconsin, which has produced a pretty album in the nineties, suitable for the lightest moments, not so original but quite inspiring and fitted into the Pomp Rock scene (listen also to the works by Robert Berry or Billy Sherwood with "World Trade" and you understand what I mean)... of course you are not in front of a masterpiece, but it's quite personal and well arranged too!!

Good stuff, characterized by a simple but direct music harmony!!

LUNAR CHATEAU were the first American band that was signed to the French Musea Label. The band consists of Novak, Paul and Milo Sekulovich, three musically skilled brothers. Their melodic progressive/symphonic rock is based on keyboards and has some jazz and fusion influences. There are reminiscences to ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, CAMEL and EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER. They don't have a guitarist, which is quite unusual.

Some of the songs are really complex and interesting while some are quite uninteresting. Paul Sekulovich's vocals is similar to Eric Woolfsons's (ALAN PARSONS) although they aren't that strong. Some of the keyboards sound very dated 80's, but overall this is yet another strong release from the Musea label.