GONE THROUGH YEARS

I must admit I fell in love with this CD as soon as I put it on. Highly emotional, melodically rich, a labor of love and powerful debut are some of the expressions that come in mind when I tried to define this record during the few last weeks when I head it in a daily basis. Although this is their first album under this name and with vocalist Larry B., the core members of the band comes from another combo called Gabria. And that might explains how they sound so tight and the compositions are so mature and strong.

The music of Gone Through Years is a progressive music that ties different styles together with seamless precision: styles as diverse as symphonic prog, jazz, flamenco, classical music and hard rock. Their former pop rock past make the presence felt by the strong hooks and their incredible sense of melody. Still Cyril is now a full fledge prog band: all the tracks have many twists and turns, mood and tempo swings, that won´t ever get them any pop radio time. Also, it seems that they based the album concept on H.G. Wells Time Machine book, but I´m not really sure. Anyway, the results are absolutely awesome, with a accessible sound that it is also daring and original. They don´t remind me of any other band I know.

What strikes me more on this CD is their combination of skillful playing, exquisite compositions and clever arrangements. Nothing is overdone here: every note seems to fall into the right place every time. The use of sax and clarinet (courtesy of their keyboardist Marek Arnold) is one of the finest since Supertramp´s heyday. Ralf Dietsch is a master of both electric and acoustic guitars, while singer Larry B deliver the words with passion and conviction. In fact Gone Through Years is so good is hard to point a highlight. During the past few weeks I heard the CD from start to finish without skipping single track all the time. The production is crystal clear: perfect for the complex and subtle music they deliver.

Rating: personally, I´d like to give this album a 5 star rating, but let´s be fair, it´s their first one and surely I hope they evolve into something even bigger. So, 4,5 stars is my final rating. This german band is a great find. If you like melodic progressive music with lots of personality, you cant´miss this one.

Highly recommended!