AS WE KNOW IT

The very first thing I felt while listening to "Hemina's" debut was that this was not entirely familiar. And it is not a feeling often felt. This album is not some rehash of old music posing as original, nor does it reflect the strained desperation of kids trying to impress beyond their abilities. Instead this album feels pure. It has a breath, a vision, and a power to place it among the very best of progressive bands to have come out in recent years.

Though the band derives its name from the Roman unit of liquid capacity, musically it seems eternal - at once modern and harkening back to places far beyond, to deep, forgotten ancientness of other times and other worlds, as if channeling the echoes of sorrows long gone.

The musicianship itself is immaculate: from Douglas Skene's sorrowful and powerful vocals, to Mitch Coull's and Jessica Martin's magical guitar work, from Andrew Craig's passionate precise percussion to Phill Eltakchi's soulful keyboard touch. But what separates this album from most bands that populate the musical scene these days is its multi-layered nature, its depth and complexity. It is music you can feel and touch. It is a world you will want to be in and return to, knowing that you will always find something new. It is fresh, pure, alive, vibrant and true. It is as we know it indeed, and is much, much more!