METROMANIA

It's a pity that Eloy as many other bands were in some way forced, by the label, by the market or by themselves, in followiing the actual tendency of electronic cold sounds made of electronic drums, fairlights and so on. Luckily Bornemann is not able to sing like David Bowie so at least the vocals were still genuine.

I think that this is what apparently makes the difference between this album and what was called new-wave in 1984. But if we don't take too much care of the sounds we can realize that the old Eloy are still there. The arrangements are heavily influenced by the actual tendency but the chords are still the good old ones and if they can be more hidden behind the electronics on the first two tracks, "All Life Is One" is a very good Eloy's song which can compete with the best things released by the band in the 70s.

Also the intro of "Escape to the Heights", I mean the first minute, before guitar and drums join, has a Tangerine Dream flavor. However, even with all these 80s sounds the first two tracks are not too bad.

"The Stranger" seems to be influenced by Alan Parsons. Try to imagine Chris Rainbow singing instead of Bornemann. The synth guitar solo sounds a bit like Rabin on 90125....well it's 1984 what can we expect?

Another touch of the good old days comes with the first minutes of "Follow The Light", then it's like Alan Parsons is at least behind the mixer. But again, Frank Bornemann's voice which is bad as usual is a trademark of the band so you can put all the possible fairlights in those songs. With Bornemann, in the bad and in the good it will always be an Eloy's song. That's why the last instrumental minutes of this track is not what I like much in this album.

Some hard rock is attempted on "Nightriders". Not a bad song, but nothing special and the arrangement doesn't help.

Finally the title track. It's not different from the rest: Eloy's rock immersed in the 80s sound, but this song sounds unexpectedly like the YES of 90125. Bornemann sings high-pitched, surely not as Jon Anderson, but the synth guitar and the keyboards show the same radio- friendly approach.

So not a bad album at all if you are not disturbed by the standardised sounds of th 80s, but if your budget is limited there are better Eloy's albums to choose from.

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