RIVER UTOPIA

Very polished, professional Neo Prog from Pennsylvania! Great drumming, great keyboard play, and very full and sophisticated (if somewhat familiar in a kind of LIFESIGNS way but never over-the-top) soundscapes.

1. "Castle Walls" (7:34) hard-driving techno music like JAN HAMMER's theme from Miami Vice unitl vocals enter. First verse and chorus make this out to be very close to 1980s hard rock like Survivor, Europe, Van Halen, or even Jeff Beck. (13/15)

2. "Streetlights" (9:53) classic 1980s YES or ASIA comes to mind here--even a little RUSH and THIN LIZZY. Stellar keyboard and drum play. These guys are tight, top-notch musicians. (17.75/20)

3. "The Junket" (7:03) programmed synth sequence joined by piano and horn and strings synth banks. Nice easy pace, melody, and sound palette for the vocal section that begins at the one-minute mark. A very memorable (familiar?) song. (13.5/15)

4. "Revolution of the Soul" (5:26) quirky jazzy rock. (8.25/10)

5. "Looking Glass" (7:40) hard-driving Neo Prog start turns gentler for the first vocal verse but then revs back up for the bridge into the chorus and the chorus itself. I like how deeply the band feels into this one. Nice, spacious instrumental section in the middle--yet no sacrificing of the musicians' sharp and precise expositions. (13.25/15)

6. "River Utopia" (10:34) Impressive, sophisticated two minutes of ELP & 1980s Genesis-like intro. Impressive guitar solo in the third minute! At 2:55 the sound bottoms out to chunky bass, spacious drum beat and floating electric piano cords as the singer(s) begins. Nice ALAN PARSONS PROJECT sound and feel here; nice melodies and sound palette. A more dynamic passage begins at 6:10 over which various instruments have the opportunity to solo--some in tandem/duet form! Back to slowed down vocal motif at 7:40--this time building from all around--including in the vocal performance. This is good stuff! The ending could have been a little better (with some vocals or something). (18/20)

As I said above, these guys are top notch musicians with a very tight, cohesive sound; I'm just not a big fan of this kind of "stadium rock" "big" sound. They do not, however, resort to cheap or dated sound for any of their instruments--it's all very sharp and modern.

B+/four stars; an excellent addition of polished heavy Neo Prog to any prog lover's music collection.