NEVERWORDLY

US act Little Atlas emerged from the ashes of sextet Waxing Poetic around 1994 in Miami.Four out of the six members made it the new act, these were singer/multi-instrumentalist Steve Katsikas, his brother Dan on drums, his wife Joanna on vocals and bassist David McKean.Guitarist Aaron Whitman was destined to join the group and several rehearsals would follow, leading silently to the first gigs.In 1998 the group recorded its debut over a period of six months, released under the title ''Neverworldly''.

Around the time Little Atlas had very few progressive influences and their debut sounds more like a melodic Hard/straight Rock album than a Prog Rock one.The sound and vocals are typical of an American band with lots of grooves and plenty of guitar solos, while the tracks are short, containing little to no surprises.Parts of the album remind of SALEM HILL'S early and rather uninspired material, blended with a bit of commercial-days KANSAS and typical 70's US Hard Rock flourishes.In fact everything on this album sounds mediocre.Average songwriting with more forgettable than memorable stuff included, a bit of flat vocal lines and even more uninteresting multi-vocal parts, featuring Joana's presence, and cliche scratching guitar riffs and solos, definitely played in the past in a better and more recommended way.The few keyboards appearing in the album, mostly synths and Hammond organ, try to add some depth to the sound, but they are quite buried to offer any interesting dimension.Regarding the style Little Atlas seem to be decent enough, but the similarity between the tracks and the rather standard Hard Rock style of the album leave little to imagination.

Apparently the group had yet to come in touch with the complexity and pomposity of 70's Prog, thus this release sounds today more than a documental effort than the true first step of the group into a succesful direction.Only recommended to fans of groovy US-styled Classic/Hard Rock.