SOMEWHERE BUT YESTERDAY

Citizen Cain's sophomore release, Somewhere But Yesterday, showed a much improved performance mainly because this time they relied on a human drummer so it seems less mechanical sounding. Again, there are strong Gabriel-era Genesis and Fish-era Marillion influences, like on their debut. And again, on the surface Citizen Cain sounds like a clone of these bands. As I mentioned on my review of their debut, Serpents in Camouflage, there is much more to this band when you listen deeper into their music.

Lyrically speaking, lead singer Cyrus must be a really depressing fellow. This music isn't bright and cheery like Genesis was. It has the bite of Fish's lyrics, but the music fits Cyrus better than Marillion ever did with Fish. Again, Cyrus' vocal tone sounds much like Peter Gabriel and Fish, but he's more monotonic and less melodious giving him more similarities with Peter Nicholls of IQ. Stuart Bell's keyboard work is again strongly inspired by Tony Banks, but he seems to rely more on atmospheric backgrounds rather than being in the forefront like Banks was. The rest of the band sometimes has a Genesis flavor to it, but for the most part is unique.

Although I loved Citizen Cain's debut, there were times when it seemed stale. I like to attribute that to the drum machine they used, but somehow I think it also had something to do with a band just trying to figure out who they were. On Somewhere But Yesterday, everything gels just nicely and it makes the entire album a pleasure to listen to. The 25+ minute title song is absolutely amazing.

For those of you who can't get past the clone label this band attracts, you'll probably not care much for this. For the rest of you, this is an essential masterpiece and one of the best releases of the 1990s. Gabriel-era Genesis fans will drool over this. Easily five stars and one of my favorite albums.