I'm aware of this band already since a few decades actually but nonetheless it never
became one of of my favs. I didn't listen very often to their records and after
spinning again through their catalogue (at least up to their IMHO unjustified highly
praised "Recycled" album) just now I remember why. Their releases after this debut
revealed a style that could be roughly described as straight forward hard rock with
slight progressive leanings, a bit later towards pomp prog and arena rock. But in
fact things are much different on this one here which is still much in the spirit of
late 60's / early 70's psychedelic rock not that far away from early Floyd with some
symphonic feel thrown in. Though being not really Prog either, rather (very good)
Proto-Prog it's the only album by them I can still support to listen to repeatedly.
It's a concept one based on a Sci-Fi story and accordingly many of the tracks reveal
a very spacey sound but not without a good measure of hard rocking elements. Apart
from the obvious Floydian touch one can hear traces of Deep Purple, The Nice, The
Beatles and Moody Blues but especially the use of Mellotron brings at times Crimson's
debut into one's mind. I agree to the points of critics of some reviewers that there
are many "borrowed" elements from multiple bands and this work's certainly to be
called derivative and quite dated for its year of release but in the end it sounds
completely different from any of those bands and it's moreover a very enjoyable
listen. Due to their residence in Germany their sound had been of course as well
influenced by Krautrock and at times they came here close to the band Wallenstein.
Overall this was a very good album and a remarkable debut though being due to its
lack of originality not really an essential one I would say. But I'd add ½ star extra.
hdfisch |3/5 |
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