ANYMAN

New Eden Orchestra from Pittsburgh, USA, had been together for about 25 years before releasing an album.The band's leading figure is keyboardist Mike Lunn, who writes all of the material and most of the lyrics.The rest of the crew are singer/drummer Dave Marion, bassist/guitarist Bill Hankins, guitarist/singer Scott Schrecengost and drummer Mark Reynolds.After so many years in the shadows New Eden Orchestra finally recorded their debut at Summit Street Studios in Derry between autumn 01' and summer 03' and the album was privately released in 2004 under the title ''anyMAN''.

New Eden Orchestra play an emphatic, rich and melodic Progressive Rock with strong GLASS HAMMER references along with vibes from the sound of THE FLOWER KINGS, ENCHANT or MAGELLAN and often a theatrical twist similar to early SPLIT ENZ.The approach is typical of the 90's US school of revived Prog with a nice balance between melodies, lyricism and a nice amount of more demanding instrumental material.Not the more personal album you can listen to, but everything is played well with nice, satisfying arrangements somewhere between Progressive Rock with big symphonic leanings and lyrical Art Rock.It suffers a bit from this quasi-plastic keyboard parts of the 90's era (except for the organ textures) or the use of some sampled instruments, but the atmosphere is often great with dreamy soundscapes, pleasant vocal deliveries, orchestral motifs and a nice amount of keyboard virtuosity here and there.Guitars are carefully used at the more melodic parts, while all vocals parts are great with a very warm color.

A pleasant listening, which ranges from lyrical Art Rock to Symphonic Rock with a huge melodic content.If you like any of the aforementioned bands, New Eden Orchestra should propably be your next purchase.Recommended.