TOWARD THE SUN

"Toward the Sun" is the debut full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act Druid. The album was released through EMI Records in June 1975. Druid formed in 1971 and became a bit of a progressive rock phenomenon after winning an unsigned band contest in the Melody Maker magazine in 1974. They were active in the period 1971-1977 and released two albums during their run.

Stylistically the material on the album is symphonic progressive rock greatly influenced by Yes. I think I hear a few nods toward the most epic Queen compositions too and there´s also an obvious Genesis influence heard in the most mellow pastoral sections of the music. So writing Druid completely off as a Yes clone wouldn´t be fair (which is what many people do). It´s true they don´t have a particularly unique progressive rock sound, but that can said about a lot of contemporary artists.

What Druid bring to the table instead is clever and memorable songwriting, good quality production values, high level musical performances, and something not all progressive artists of the 70s had (actually only a few had this)...a skilled singer with a good voice, and great choir and harmony vocals. The music is predominantly organic and laid-back, which makes for an incredibly pleasant listen. Beautiful acoustic and clean guitar parts, floading synth chords, and the occasionally more climatic moment featuring electric guitar leads.

Upon conclusion this is one of the tier 2 progressive rock albums from the 1970s which is actually worth a listen if you enjoy symphonic progressive rock with a mellow and laid-back attitude. Tier 2 in this case doesn´t mean that "Toward the Sun" is a bad quality release but only the fact that Druid is not considered among the most famous artists in the genre and are therefore among the vast amount of artists on the secondary list of 70s progressive rock acts. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is well deserved.