EUREKA

German multi-instrumentalist Frank Bossert released a stunning third album in 2013, depicting the tragic arctic Shackleton expedition and was well-received and applauded upon its release. My review wished to highlight the glacial mood, the windswept gloom and the despair of those who knew that they would perish, frozen. The overall atmosphere played a huge part in the enjoyment of this work. Total change of focus for this one, as Frank felt an urge to return to more song-oriented material, and thus create a more personal musical statement. The man has experienced the shameful injustice of being forced to fight the legal battles to see his only child, a rather unjust yet still way to common occurrence that defies understanding and causes the most unholiest of pain. Partners that once mattered can turn into the vilest of enemies. This is not quite a concept album like 'Shackleton's Voyage', but still strings together some clever compositions that are all intertwined in spirit if not in content. The artwork is absolute first class, a collision between nature and human achievement that depicts the adventurous nature of life and the need to escape the dreary routine and enjoy what our planet has to offer.

RPWL mastermind Yogi Lang has been recruited to assist in mixing and his neo/Floydian pop feel is everywhere to be heard, guiding Bossert into the realm of personal songs that have meaning for more than just the artist. After a short introduction that hearkens back to the icy Shackleton opus, 'Animated World' nods closer to Rush, what with the slashing guitar, the looping bass and madman drumming, all very identifiable, including a vocal delivery similar in style though not necessarily in tone. The lyrics are about the mania that compels naive and frustrated youth to delve into the lowest forms of apathy and video game carnage, thus 'he left the house with a fatal mission, out to the sun with a gun in his hand'. The recent Winnenden mass shootings come to mind. Gulp!

The tragedy of an abducted child is a horrible nightmare that any parent would dread. Sadly, it's not purely the domain of the father to be the culprit but, now more than ever, the victim. PAS (Parental Alienation Syndrome) is a problematic sign of the times that needs more attention than ever. The insanity of such an abduction of body, mind, spirit, love and conscience is truly deplorable and is understatedly expressed on 'Stolen Child'.

Next up are two basic rock songs that are short and to the point, with quite limited prog leanings. 'One Million Stars' is another existential critique, a woeful essay on the technological apathy that governs our dreams. The song is straightforward musically and the message is bold. The brash 'State of View' is a typical pop-rock song dealing with urban alienation and social dysfunction, armed with a slashing guitar solo and a bruising pace. Just as a slight tinge of disappointment kicks in, the progressive quality suddenly surges through the clouds and a string of amazing pieces follow one another, until the finale. The 6 minute + 'Chasing the Dream' is a progressive recounting of Lindbergh's mythical Trans-Atlantic solo flight and serves up some fine atmospherics, with slick bass fingering the way ahead. The slick guitar work hints at Andy Summers, stinging (oops, excuse the pun!) chords and clanging thrusts fluttering amid the storm sheets of rain.

Shorter track but quite pleasant is 'Escape! ', a bass-fueled mini-romp, at first very rocky and very rolly , steam pressed with some dynamic drums and an anguished axe solo, a real highpoint that shows off Frank's instrumental talents. Too bad, it's so brief. More please! The expressive 10 minute+ 'The Big Picture' is undoubtedly the album's core, a truly epic adventure that does propose the big picture if you will, the extended guitar and Frank's synth soloing giving the necessary room for dreaming and adventure, grandiose and expressive , heartfelt and personal. Airport drama effects sling the voice into action, cutting guitar in unison and lots of dynamic choir voices to enhance the depth and resonance.

The brilliant 'Solid Ground' is light but intense, bolstered by a lovely main melody and truly astounding backing vocals and choir work. The oozing axe solo is gorgeous and the ultimate feeling is positive, despite all the pain previously expressed.

A fine personal effort from a consummate musician, leaning more towards the poppier side of things, more commercially accessible than most artists being song-based above all. 'Shackleton' remains a favorite still, though.

4 Vast emissions

A history lesson

Shackleton's Voyage is a conceptual musical journey by Eureka - a German project driven by multi- instrumentalist Frank Bossert - and featuring Billy Sherwood (Yes) and others as guests. I would like to describe the music found on this album as a mix between Mike Oldfield's Incantations, Camel's Celtic Rock masterpiece Harbour Of Tears, and Billy Sherwood's various projects such as Conspiracy (with Chris Squire) and Circa. Add to this some narration in the style of Rick Wakeman's Journey To The Centre Of The Earth and you have a pretty good idea of what you will find here. Troy Donockley's pipes and whistles contribute further to the appealing folky/Celtic sound.

As the title implies, the album is based on the famous Antarctic expedition of Ernest Shackleton (1874- 1922). Even though I am personally fascinated by Shackleton's exploration and explorers in general, I think that the narration and the lyrics are the least appealing aspects of this album. While Billy Sherwood's familiar voice fits in very nicely, the lyrics are to my mind just too descriptive and direct with little or no room left for any interpretation and emotional involvement on the part of the listener. I mean that they just simply and dryly describe the journey like in a history lesson. However, the majority of the album is instrumental and it is here that this album manages to engage the listener.

Despite its narrative imperfections, Shackleton's Voyage is a good album with several nice instrumental moments in a Neo-Prog/Folk Rock vein and (disregarding the lyrics) some good vocal numbers in a more Crossover Prog style.

Eureka is a project by multi-instrumentalist Frank Bossert. So you can imagine that despite of the guests in many of the tracks (which include Billy Sherwood (ex-Yes, ex-Yoso, Circa) and Yogi Lang (RPWL), he pretty much plays everything by himself.

Silverware: The Best Of Eureka 1997 - 2010 (2011) was released by the German label Tempus Fugit and it's a compilation of Eureka's previous 4 studio albums. Many of this songs were re-recorded instead of just remastered and each of the songs have a small explanatory text by Frank himself, which is always nice to have in booklets.

Musically speaking the album is a varied one, and it doesn't ring any bell with Progressive Rock. We have here some Neo Prog and some Prog Rock moments, but in its majority we're listening to AOR, a lot like Billy Sherwood 's albums with Circa. Very well recorded and played.

If you're into this kind of music this is a perfect compilation for you, if it's not, just skip it.

Eureka is a personal project of German musician Frank Bossert, born in 1967 in Hamburg.While relocated in Husum, Bossert started up the Eureka engine during the 90's and released a first low-budget self-titled album in 1997.A second one followed five years later, this time with a more professional sound.Entitled ''The Full Circle'', the album features appearances by female singer/flutist Claudia Sokollek, bassist/guitarist Stephan Bork, percussionist Ralph Schmedeke and keyboardist Nico Fintzen, while Bossert is responsible for the compositions as well as plenty of guitar and bass parts of the album.

''The full circle'' seems like a lost Celtic/Folk Rock album of the MIKE OLDFIELD discography, while singer Claudia Sokollek is succesfully compared to KATE BUSH.This is a beautiful work of Celtic tunes meeting electric soundscapes with Bossert offering short vocal and instrumental arrangements of a dreamy yet pretty grandiose atmosphere, where New Age, Rock and Folk blend together in an ethereal mix.Additionally the album lacks any drum parts, instead Bossert chose to fill the sound with timpani and percussions, thus creating an even more folky atmosphere.At moments the album recalls also DAB AR BRAZ works, great flute tunes, acoustic interludes (with some lovely mandolin themes) and background synths of a Celtic flavor meet Bossert's melodic guitar stylings with some beautiful solos delivered.Another reason to purchase the album is Claudia Sokollek, who's voice is pure magic, a sensitive, warm and ultra-crystalline color all the way.

A beautiful release along the lines of MIKE OLDFIELD and DAN AR BRAZ, where the Celtic world reaches the brilliancy of electric music.Not the greatest work for fans of complex music but a fantastic one for lovers of cinematic, folky OLDFIELD-ian soundscapes.Recommended.

This is not a masterpiece or the most innovative album of 2009, far from it, but it's an enjoyable easy listening experience. EUREKA is basically Frank Bossert, German multi-intrumentalist. Other musicians or vocalists are only guesting on one or two tracks, so practically Frank would have been capable of playng the whole work himself, like Mike Oldfield has done. I'm not very happy with all the guest appearances (the narration, by Ian Dickinson, is rather irritating feature; luckily there's quite little of it), but mostly they bring some needed ingredients to the whole. Billy Sherwood (familiar of his YES-connections) sings on two tracks, and the legendary Troy Donockley plays Uillean pipes on other two. There are also appearances of RPWL's Yogi Lang on Moog and synthesizers.

The concept album follows (track by track in the lavishly illustrated leaflet) Sir Ernest Shackleton's voyage to Antarctica. A nice concept even if not highly original: voyages seem to be one of the most typical concepts. It's up to the listener how closely (s)he wants to follow the story or if (s)he prefers just to enjoy the music as music - as I did. The album is harmless in that level too, usable as background music.

Musically it's melodic instrumental Neo-Prog with some Celtic feel. Well played, well produced, easy to listen to - easy to forget? Time will tell how much I enjoy this after many listenings, but for now this is worth four stars. There may not be absolute hair-raising moments of bliss, but not a single track I wouldn't want to hear either (except the brief intro track with the narration). Also some more variation or unpredictability would have done good towards the end. But a fairly nice album in its safeness.

This is a really nice little journey of an album. Documenting musically the journey of Ernest Henry Shackleton and his crew to Antarctica, their time stranded there, and the amazing adventure that followed in search of salvation is an ambitious goal, but Frank Bossert approached it admirably.

The album starts off with some narration explaining roughly what the listener is going to be hearing about for the next little while. Following that is Departure, the first instrumental piece (out of nine), giving the listener an excellent idea of what they are in for: great, atmospheric instrumental pieces. Departure has a decidedly celtic feel about it that works quite well.

The Challenge features the vocals of Billy Sherwood (making this a collectible for Yes' most dedicated fans - although I'm not that dedicated of a fan personally, and bought this album based on samples heard online), and it is not overly bad, although to be honest I prefer the tracks where Frank really gets to work on the soundscapes without having to allow space for the vocals.

Luckily, Grytviken Whaling Station brings us back into the deft hands of Frank Bossert, and we find ourselves once again being taken away on this fantastic voyage. The music fits the Whaling Station locale perfectly. Following that is Heading South, which features excellent - if not overly complex - drums. (Who says it can't be good if it's not complex, anyways?).

Icebound is the first "stumble" on the album, not being quite as interesting as what has preceded it, but it is followed by the excellent "Plenty of Time", which always makes me want to get up and dance a jig (even though I'm not entirely sure what a "jig" even is). Story-wise, this takes place during the turning point in the story, and from that sense, I find it interesting that Frank decided to go the optimistic route for this.

"The Turning Point", I guess, is more literally the turning point in the story, and once again we are given some narration to explain what is going on, followed by "Going Home", the other song with Billy Sherwood guesting. I find I appreciate Going Home more than The Challenge.

"Into the Lifeboats" doesn't start off as convincingly as some of the prior tracks, but shortly after the two minute mark it gets a needed dose of intensity that makes it much more interesting. Unfortunately, Elephant Island I find to be rather droll, never really going anywhere or catching my attention. In this case, it seems to me a case of the music suffering for the story - I tend to forget that I am listening to the album until "Will You Ever Return?" (with Kalema guesting) starts playing. "Will You Ever Return" itself is a nice song, although it is not one of the best moments of the album - I have to admit a preference for the effective instrumental moments.

In Search of Relief is another weaker track, and unfortunately, it is the longest on the album. It starts off promising enough but my mind quickly wanders; around the two minute mark, much like in IceBound, it gets a bit heavier and more intense, which brings back my attention, although this is short lived, as it goes into a bit that reminds me strongly of "Heading South" only less interesting. Sadly, The Rescue did not rescue the album from going out on a low note - it too sounds remarkably familiar and doesn't stay as interesting as the earlier half of the album. The closer, "We Had Seen God", is essentially just dialogue, and while it is a nice quote to finish the story, it ends the album on a tired, low note.

It would be impossible to consider this music without it's package, for the liner notes include a photograph from the real voyage for each song, including some notes on what is happening in the story. Listening to the album while reading this is quite an enjoyable experience.

For those who would fear that this album would be another bland Neo-prog album that sounds like a Genesis clone, they can rest assured that it is more than that. This album definitely has it's own feel and charm. Unfortunately, that feel and charm runs dry halfway through the album. For the excellent first half, I award this album three stars.

I noticed this album on the 2009 Top Albums and I was very surprised it was sitting within the top 10. This album is terribly bland. Maybe it's my taste towards a lot of Neo-Prog, but I just felt there were no solid, captivating melodies for the album to really sit on. It's a really easy listen, but not one song stood out to me and really caught my attention. Everything was very simple, boring, and completely predictable. Nothing startling here. It's difficult for me to tell what they were attempting to get across in their music, 'cause I got nothing out of it. Music definitely needs to make a statement, and this just had nothing. Nothing is to gain from listening to this album, however, you only lose about 51 minutes of your lifespan on an emotionless and amateur album. Enjoy.

Another of prog's major characteristics is the ability to create through sonic experimentation an overwhelming sense of raptured escape and boundless voyage. There are countless masterpieces that confirm the yarn of progressive rock as an artistic mixture of music and arts & crafts, an endless stream of luscious textiles, gilded filaments and intricate design, heavily attractive due to the manic attention to detail, bedecked with gems and shiny stones. We used to call it "tripping" back then, in the wondrous 70s and we witnessed night after exalted night of interstellar expeditions, coated in a still pure naïveté. Stories told in a wondrous musical context remain the core of the progressive muse. Well that tradition has not died out with the arrival of this exciting package from German multi-instrumentalist Frank Bossert, allied with some splendid cavalry charges from Iona's Troy Donockley, RPWL's Yogi Lang and Billy Sherwood of Yes fame. The descriptive is centered around the ill-fated polar expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, a tragedy that went somewhat unnoticed during the strenuous early months of World War I. Throughout the 15 tracks, British actor Ian Dickinson offers his documentary-style voice to add some narrative, providing historical reference points for the rather illuminating music displayed.

Sweeping along the traditions of Wakeman's Journey to the Center of the Earth and Oldfield/Vangelis masterpieces, "Departure" implies the instrumental glee and buoyant confidence of a major undertaking setting sail, whooshing synths, rippling guitars simulating the flapping canvases and the exultation of a giddy crew. "The Challenge" states the purpose and the goal, crossing the Antarctic from coast to coast, Sherwood 's voice flush with muted anticipation perhaps even a hint of dread, as if expecting some frozen disaster. On "Grytviken Whaling Station" the mechanical effects and the woozy guitar instill the notion of preparation and the tedious performance of getting the show on the road. "Heading South" is an all-out masterpiece of symphonic grandeur, Yogi Lang's extended whistling synth à la Manfred Mann rustles up images of distance and epic melancholy, while Bossert weaves in some parallel guitar lines. The frosty "Icebound" initiates as a bleak foreboding soundtrack, crisp winds howling on the horizon, swept along by a delicate melody that hints at Vangelian majesty in a quasi-electro/classical dimension that evokes the subject matter perfectly, the frozen vastness imprisoning the tiny wooden vessel , ironically named "The Endurance"! "Plenty of Time" introduces some optimism, a Celtic romp on the Uillean pipes (here played by Stefan Markus) that playfully stares danger in the face and states "bring it on!" from the star-crossed crew. "Going Home" is the winning track here, a genial attempt at articulating the destruction of the ship by glacial asphyxiation and the need to survive the ordeal, a gigantic main melody expertly expressed by Sherwood's forlorn voice propelled by some lustrous arrangements, flush with hopeful anxiety ("fight for our lives"). Bossert's axe solo weaves magically some kind of salvation, the synthesizer egging the flight on, with some backing choir work to finalize the menace. The instrumental "Into the Lifeboats" has a buzz of impromptu scurrying, overt violin arrangements adding a grandiose implication for haste and no time to waste, while the guitar bursts à la Oldfield (a strong influence here), blitzing manically and spurting encouragement (the bass popping renders the urgency very well). "Elephant Island" as the title implies, reverts to the lumbering glacial mastodon of synthesized sound, plodding the eerie message of frozen destiny once again. "Will You Ever Return?" features the triumvirate of female vocals named Kalema , expressing the fears and worries of the families back home, another nod at Oldfieldian territories, majestic acoustic guitars vying with distressing piano meanderings, a completely successful piece that encompasses even further the ominous pain. "In Search of Relief" is the longest track here, ticking in at nearly 7 minutes, an odyssey of exasperating "endurance" (sic), a woozy blend of gentle harmonics blown aside by some harsh guitar blasts, furious drumming, reptilian bass and an extended and raging guitar foray that remains utterly convincing. The mid section offers some intricate picking, different patches and tones for the 6 strings involved, while the synth backwash persists further into still iced-up deliverance. Finally, the excruciating moment has arrived, "The Rescue" ushers in a feeling of exhausted disbelief, a variation on some of the previous melodic themes and humbly ending the proceedings with the words of Ernest Shackleton :"in memories we were rich. We had pierced the veneer of outside things. We had suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled down, yet grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole. We had seen God in His splendours, heard the text that nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man". A masterful monument to human suffering and progressive descriptive. A gem?..

5 frozen lifevests.