DWELLERS OF THE DEEP

If you like 70's prog with mellotron, tinkling Hammond, multiple vocal harmonies, and the full body sound of the Rickenbacker bass, this is the album for you. The audio quality on this CD is very good, proof that CD's can have sonic properties as good as vinyl. I'm going to mention right away that I'm not a fan of the vocalist and that deters from my enjoyment of the music. He sounds similar to Jon Anderson, but his timbre is not for me.

There are four songs on this 45 minute disc and the first two are my favorites. "By the Banks" starts out strong goes through several different grooves. Good song that ends abruptly, as they didn't know how to give it a proper finale. "Five Rooms" starts out with vocals and then quickly turns into a Yes sounding riff. Wobbler definitely showcase their influences on this song and provide an abundance of great playing. Listen close and you hear the Gentle Giant influence at 4:22 and again at 6:50. Not just an influence but almost note for note "Three Friends" riff. "Naiad Dreams" gives us a break from the furious pace of the first two songs and begins with a nylon guitar and then vocals come in. A very sparse song and the shortest on the album. However, it also has a strange unfinished ending to my ears. Closing song "Merry Macabre" (19:00) is the longest on the album, it begins mellow and morphs into more Yes sounding material. I love the bass tone on this song... it kills. In fact, the bass tone, and playing, is outstanding on the entire album. The mellow part around four minutes, causes my mind to wander, but they pick up the pace with a jazzy groove around the seven minute mark. Good song but it has too many meandering bits, for me and the ending is odd again.

Overall, a decent album if you like 70's prog. For those looking for modern sounds you won't find it here. Actually, a 3.5 star release but I'll round down since others rounded up.