A GIFT FOR YOUR DREAMS

This took a long time to grow on me as I was expecting (hoping) it to sound like the debut from 8 years earlier. It doesn't. They have put out two albums in between these two but they are very hard to find, so I haven't heard them. The biggest difference from this and the debut is that the Hammond organ has been reduced greatly. It was that sound that really made the debut special and had me comparing it to "Volume 7" from VIOLETA DE OUTONO. Not this one. One of the resons for the lack of organ might be the fact that the original keyboard player is no longer with the band, and so we have a guest playing piano and organ on this one.

"Nature Boy" opens with guitar, organ and light drums.This goes on until the vocals and piano take over 1 1/2 minutes in.The contrast continues. The vocals really remind me of Vincent Cavanagh from ANATHEMA. Flute before 4 minutes. "Serpent's Kiss" is an instrumental and I like the melancholic guitar intro. Bass and light drums join in around 2 minutes then the tempo starts to pick up. Organ 3 1/2 minutes in. Great track ! "The Night Twined the Hours" opens with gentle guitar as reserved vocals and piano join in. Organ and more passionate vocals follow. A relaxing soundscape follows then flute joins in.Themes are repeated. "Fairer-Than-A-Fairy" has a beautiful intro and the organ 1 1/2 minutes in is wondrous. Flute 2 minutes in with some prominant bass.

"Flying With Witches" has a heavier sound to it with drums and guitar leading the way. Flute 1 1/2 minutes in as it becomes more laid back. Violin before 4 minutes. "Inward Reflections" opens with acoustic guitar and what sounds like harpsichord. Organ then vocals follow. It's building 2 1/2 minutes in then it calms right down with some deep bass lines as drums and piano join in. The guitar sounds awesome after 3 1/2 minutes then violin comes in followed by vocals after 5 minutes. It's pretty intense 6 minutes in then it calms down one last time to end it. "Sliding Down At The Shades Of Mind" opens aggressively before it settles into a dark mood with bass. It kicks back in then vocals arrive before 2 minutes as it settles again. The vocals become passionate. This is such an emotional section and it returns again after 5 minutes thankfully. Gorgeous. "Nature Boy (Female Vocals)" ends the album with a guest female vocalsist (surprise !). The best part is the guitar solo after 2 minutes that goes on and on.

Very cool looking band by the way (picture in liner notes). So yeah this is different than the debut, but for me it's almost as good now that it's clicked with me. If you can find anything by this excellent Greek band i'd highly recommend you to snap it up. By the way, this album is dedicated to Nikos Chalikias who was the flute player in the band for their first three albums. He sadly passed away in 2005.