SOMERSAULT

I have rather mixed feelings about "Jadis". A good debut album, an excellent EP ("Once Upon A Time") to follow but the band will "compensate" this with a very average album ("Across the Water") followed two years later by the same sort of poor music in the form of a second EP : "Once Or Twice".

So, to which side does belong "Somersault" ?

Even though "Live This Lie" holds a lot of clichés of the neo-prog genre, it is a good and pleasant song. "Healthy" rhythm, good guitar work. Even vocals are OK (which was not often the case on their previous effort). "Badstein" is somewhat "Marillion" -oriented (guitar) but fully "Genesis" like on the keyboards. Although that mix might sound appealing, the result is not so great . It sounds as if their good debut won't be equalled.

Of course, Martin Orford has left the band to concentrate on the new "IQ" project. Mike Torr is holding the keys now (he was a guest on their second EP). Not an easy job to replace Martin, but Mike is doing it quite decently.

"Losing My Fear" takes some time to start. An acoustic and dull intro is fortunately followed by a great piece of music. Instrumental part here are excellent and the song struture is more elaborate with several theme changes. It is one of my two faves. The start of "Tomorrow Always Arrives" ranges it more on the symph style. Only the vocals are not convincing. Gary Chandler's mellow voice is too uniform. Lacks of passion and too much of the same. Most of the songs sound like each other. "Faling Away" just ...falls into the same trap.

This music is straight-forward. Fully neo-prog : easily accessible and reminiscent of "Marillion" and "Genesis". This work is not too original, I'm afraid. Still, the guitar solo from "Speechless" is great. But Gary Chandler has already pleased me during "More than Meets his Eye ". Not as a vocalist because he is very average in this position but his guitar play is really pleasant.

This album is not a brilliant one. The inspiration of the debut is gone. "Jadis" 's music is too repetitive. I would say five out of ten, but there are little reasons for me to upgrade it to three stars (not even "Hear Us" which is the longest song of this album and more on the heavy side). So, two stars.