ENTANGLED

I first started out wit h the dreaded it's not a four, but more than a 3 rating - 3.75. Enough to get me salivating as I await their next release, hopefully this year. And then I thought "I've listened to this album 15-20 times in the past two months; more than the new releases from AC/DC, King's X, and D.O.A. . Apart from Marillion's Happiness is the Road, I haven't played an album that much in some time". So it really should be a four. If I may start out with a very succinct overview of this band's sound on this release - imagine Genesis meets Maneige, with Gabriel era Genesis meets Neo vocals (yes, I know. some say Neo is Gabriel vocals), all put together with the Piano as the main instrument. This makes for a sparser sound than either Genesis or Maneige, but by no means minimalist. A little B3, some synth, no mellotron. Just piano, guitar, bass, drums.Think back to early Genesis, Trespass era, with a similarity in the vocals to early Peter Nicholls from IQ. The vocals show traces of an accent of their native french language. It reminds me of the better efforts of the Italian groups' English recordings. But the lyrics do not show any strain from being sung & written in their second language. So how can a Symphonic fan not like this little band from Levis ?

P.S. Oh, to avoid a little confusion - the last song sounds as if it is cut short. That is on purpose. If you play the CD on repeat, i.e. the CD restarts after the end of the last song, you will find that it flows into the first song as if they are part of the same composition. Indeed, the group says that the next planned release Ashes City, may start the same way, as if it were part two of Entangled.

Well worth your time, and best of all, if you find the songs on their MySpace and Facebook pages to your liking, you can order or download this album through their website.