AT-KING

2.5 stars, really. Well, we all know how influential Marillion has become over the years, which is quite ironic, since they were themselves labeled as ´Genesis-clones´ with no originality when the general press critics first heard them. History proved them wrong, but I was quite surprised to realise that they were already being themselves cloned as early as 1985. When I saw the cover of this CD I knew it should be something in the vein of Fish era Marillion, and I was right. So originality was not Deyss forte. However, if it is good, I tend to forget this point. I like bands that plays in the same mold as Marillion, like that one from Canada, Red Sand.

At-King however, is more promising than really good, although they do have some nice stuff. The short intro The Meeting Of The Lords is a good introduction that, unfortunatly, leads to the weakest momento of the whole CD, the popish Turning Night Into Day. Not a bad song per se, but the very 80´s sounding eletronic drums and the chessy keyboards timbres are too dated to be effective. The very good guitar parts can´t save the day with this one. The singer´s voice is little too boyish here (maybe trying to sound like Jon Anderson instead of Peter Gabriel?). Unlike one reviewer wrote, the vocalist on this album is Patrick Fragnere, a guest, and not the one called Jester, who would join the band by the time they released their second CD.

Things get a lot better with After And After, a very nice prog ballad that works quite well all the way through (excellent keys and guitar). The next two songs are just short instrumental tracks tha again show how good Giovanni De-Vita (guitar) is, but ultimately are just sound like introductions to something that never comes. The last tune (yes, this is a very short CD, running at only 33 minutes) is their very best, the title track of the album is surely the longest and the most interesting of the lot: lots of tempo changes, mood swings, strong solos, tasteful arrangements and convincing perfomances of all involved. Great song! It really made me give the added half star in my rating.

All in all not a bad CD. Quite promising in fact, but it is highly derivative too. I´m curious about its follow ups. If you love the early 80´s neo prog scene in general, and Marillion in particular, you shold check this out.