RICOCHET

"The Custodians" begins on a nervous rock with a new voice; typed hard rock with keyboards behind, harder sound on URIAH HEEP; the break with a lively guitar solo that unfolds melodically; the initial 4' track makes me look for it on Bandcamp and add more than 2 minutes with an oriental break that transcends the title, phew. "King Of Tales" worked intro, stamped metal prog; faster too with the emphasis on keyboards; a catchy chorus, a voice that surfs on that of the IRON MAIDEN, the break that puts you down, a keyboard reminiscent of DEEP PURPLE, in short nice, RICOCHET has nothing to do with their original sound. "Farewell" for the long piece so composed intro; prog convolutions, very soft Michael on a dark ballad with a heavy atmosphere; you have to wait for the last third to have a nice progressive declination all uphill with an unstoppable solo; sensitive, prog metal drawing on the melodic with extension at the end. "Interception" for the mid-tempo ballad with a used sound that refers to the end of the 70s, the beginning of the 80s, yes it's starting to date; a classic title with a well-made, fat, juicy keyboard and the eternal guitar solo, nothing more.

"Waiting For The Storm" goes back to a basic melodic prog metal side; it is still the keyboard that gives the opening to leave; monolithic and hypnotic keyboard giving the change; I read that they had toured with MALMSTEEN, you can feel it in this guitar solo which runs for a long time. "Beyond The Line" follows in style; a catchy Kashmiri riff starts on a heavy ballad; the progressive moment is done through the aerial solo then a break where muted military drums and the keyboard smell good of prog AOR, heavy metal. "Losing Ground" dark intro à la MAIDEN I persist, melancholic then suddenly Andalusian, Mediterranean as you see; then a colorful heavy riff takes the second; very good a few years or even decades ago; the guitar solo saves the day a little, enjoyable but waiting half the title for that is it very reasonable, only the air is not everything, in short heavy yes, prog no despite the second solo, from URIAH HEEP. "On A Distant Shore" another acoustic ballad oozing the melody, a tad cutesy with piano and lead vocals; the solo shows that Heiko is playing well. "Kazakhstan" progressive intro from the Middle East, backing vocals from there; radical cut by a big riff and shouted voice quickly cut by a pleasantly denoting cinematic space; a rising, melodic flowing riff, a predictable mid-tempo tune with that famous crescendic 'Kashmir' still in mind; phew the keyboard break that takes over, long and swirling until an abrupt finale.

RICOCHET released their 3rd album scraping in the good sense of the term in the heavy music of the 70s, URIAH HEEP and LED ZEPPELIN; they refer to DREAM THEATER and ARENA. For me it's a new band heavier than their first two albums, powerful like QUEENSRYCHE and THRESHOLD with Michael as an incisive frontman, in short consensual melodic progressive hard rock.

Musically the band can at times sound a bit like classic Marillion, at other times similar to classic Dream Theatre; but most of the time they explore musical landscapes inbetween those counterpoints. Most of the time there's a distinctly metal edge to the music, so when it comes to musical genre prog metal should be an adequate description.

No exceptionally good tracks on offer on this release, but no fillers or weak tracks either. Good musicians, good songs, well produced and well performed.

Check out the tracks "Teartown" and "Silent Retriever" if you'd like to hear representative samples of what this album is all about.