CERULEAN BLUE

Cerulean Blue is one of those albums that you always wanted to write a review about... Quite strangely, I first listened to their songs on a prog radio (!) which caught my attention instantly. The story refers to a journey of a man discovering himself, but you really need to listen to the album carefully to understand the whole concept... I couldn't until recently.

I can find a lot of negative arguments for this album: 'the music is too simple to be prog', 'a lot of time is wasted in narrations and not music', 'there are not many tempo changes', 'dull', 'melancholic' and many other relevant... While lots of these might be true, the beautiful atmosphere counter-balances them all. Each track is based on an initial narration (describing the man's journey) which 'visualises' the story. In addition, a constant slow pace is maintained throughout the record, borrowing elements from 90's symphonic prog. Choirs, sax, violins and cellos are used in such a way to contribute to this 'magical' and 'eccentric' sound, built on 'soundtrack-like' melodies; indeed, you could easily feel like watching a movie.

The tracks are relatively long (8 min average), building on the initial melodies and evolving on the same tempo. The only direct influences I could notice on the music are from 80's and 90's Pink Floyd albums, primarily on the vocals section and the sad, melancholic melodies. My favourite track is Parsifal, with its enchantic choirs and the subsequent acoustic guitar break while the few 'latin' influences on Starcrossed don't alter the overall character of the album.

Concluding, this is a pretty well-worked and composed album, with straightforward orchestrations and arrangements, mainly based on non-sophisticated melodies built on clean acoustic guitars and keyboards. 'This does not really sound prog and innovative enough', one might argue, but surprisingly this is the something different a prog fan might be looking for in his music. This definitely works for me... I will be interested to see how RAIN's next album will sound like.

Progressive in its simplicity? Well, I leave it to you to find out...