CHAPTERS I & II

Juhani is a very talented Finnish man who plays a wide variety of instruments on this album. He does have a drummer on board but he does the rest including an array of synths as well as bass, percussion, melleotron, organ and guitar. Make no mistake though,this comes off as a guitar album.

"Launch" is just that,the sound of a rocket taking off. "The Pioneers" come in which sounds great especially when the guitar comes in playing over top. Some mellotron and lots of synths follow, although it's that steady beat with guitar helping out that dominates. Ripping guitar before 4 minutes. "Shifting" is a short spacey and atmospheric section. "The Traveller" is really more of the same as we get a beat with guitar doing it's thing. A calm though 2 minutes in. It turns uptempo before 3 1/2 minutes with the guitar lighting it up. Some wild affects before 5 minutes then back to the original melody. "Floating" is slower paced (hey we're floating here) with guitar and drums leading the way. We do get some organ later.

"The Chase" is as the title suggests faster paced and more dramatic. "The Great Escape" has a good full sound as we get some deep bass, mellotron, organ and of course guitar. "Deep End" opens with the rain coming down as we hear organ and light drums. We get an Indian instrument of some sort as well. This song is a refreshing change. One of my favs. "The Release" features lots of guitar and the organ runs are good as well. A steady beat comes in and then violin takes over. "Outro" ends it all with a gong.

For me this seemed to lack depth especially for being listed under Heavy-Prog, but there is no questioning this man's talent. Good album.