MOTH VELLUM

Well probably Mr Tom Lynham (keyboards, drums) & Johannes Luley (guitars) are the main masterminds of the present work, reminding me of the mellow side concerning the light prog music (like within the 70's soft classic- romantic and ipnotic- music genre, I mean...), but I should say that this latter is a bit enriched with the space rock sound of the German light symphonic bands here, even though always in accordance to the tradition of the seventies. Of course the vintage instrumentation doesn't help you to "distinguish" their sound, in comparison to a couple of famous bands like the early Yes and the last Genesis band with Steve Hackett...nevertheless there's something modern in their debut album, but also something else (above all the mood) in the vein of Pink Floyd and almost equal to the experience of the most interesting prog bands in Germany, like Nektar, Eloy and Anyone' s daughter for example. Of course the melodies are not bad, even though not always inspiring, nevertheless the "captivating" vocals, sometimes reminding me of Jon Anderson and Geddy Lee, make this album quite worth checking out at least!! "Let the race begin" is a good opener, but if I think of the work performed by P. Bardens with Camel (early period from "Moonmadness" and "Mirage") , I keep on listening to them and soon forget the sound of Moth Vellum, from California,,,naturally it's a question of personal preferences, but if you talk about a "modern" prog sound, I think of Echolyn or once again of the art rock created by US "Don Caballero" for instance (despite of these latter producing a different music-genre ten years ago); instead the other tunes are in the average and the guitar excursions more inspiring in comparison to the contribution of the other musicians.

However at the end a mention for the bass player/vocalist (Ryan Downe) and for the drummer/vocalist Matt Swindells as well must be done , cause I respect their work very much and then...well make your own choice as usual and perhaps you could add an half star at least!