PLANETS

There's a lot less guitar on this one compared to the previous album "Colours", but man the lush keybords and orchestration sounds pretty amazing on this one. This is a concept album, in fact there's a short story in the liner notes telling us about it. Pretty cool story really.The next album "Time To Turn" is a continuation of this story.

"Introduction" is a 2 minute spacey ride laden with tons of synths. "On The Verge Of Darkening Lights" we get vocals and a good beat. I like this one. Some organ in this one as well. I like the 1 minute instrumental interlude. Vocals return 3 minutes in. A spacey calm after 5 minutes as it blends into "Point Of No Return". Again like the previous song a good beat comes in early as vocals join in. Lots of lush synths in this catchy tune. "Mysterious Monolith" offers up some nice bass lines before 2 minutes as the organ comes in as drums pound and synths play over top. Vocals return a minute later. More great bass after 5 minutes.

"Queen Of The Night" opens with piano as reserved vocals join in. It builds as female vocals come in. Some strings in this one too. Very spacey 3 1/2 minutes in. "At The Gates Of Dawn" is dominated by a lush, spacey soundscape, great tune. "Sphinx" opens with some nice synths as vocals join in. A good rhythm to this one after a minute. It settles after 3 minutes then kicks back in. It ends with the wind blowing which continues in the next track called surprisingly "Carried By Cosmic Winds". I like the FLOYD-like synths early. Vocals before 1 1/2 minutes. A fuller sound a minute later with strings to follow.

An enjoyable album for me and well worth 4 stars. The bonus track is a live version of "On The Verge Of Darkening Lights" and it's better than the studio version.