PANDORA'S BOX

With the arrival of Robin Suchy there seemed to be a breeze of fresh air in Gerard's history.Among the many lives the group was performing around mid-90's Gerard found time to enter the studio at the fall of 96' in order to record another bombastic work.This was meant to be ''Pandora's box'', finally released in March 97' on Musea Records.

From the opening self-titled number things are getting really serious.Toshio Egawa is in an absolute orgasm, performing an over-10-min. powerful Symphonic Rock suite with angualr synthesizers, bombastic Hammond organ and loads of Mellotron in a KING CRIMSON vein around the middle.The remaing three out of five tracks follow the same if not heavier lines.Very dense, keyboard-based Symphonic/Hard Rock with tons of virtuosic synth moves, dynamic pyrotechnics and a huge amount of tehnique in a bit abstract but very enegetic arrangements.''Siren in the Mysterious Sea'' is a different story.Based on sampled flutes, Mellotron and harsichord, this instrumental piece is closer to New Age/Symphonic Rock in a much needed interruption between the heavier ideas of Egawa.The closing ''Freedom'' is again on the softer side.It sounds like an AOR ballad with Suchy's vocal in the forefront with a more aggressive section clodsing it in a synth-drenched enviroment.

Mostly instrumental and tremendously bombastic Symphonic Rock is the perfect style for Gerard and the band's leader Toshio Egawa knew this better than anyone else.Good album, maybe some more melodies could be included.Nevertheless, recommended.