FROM THE NEW WORLD

After the video release of Uroboros (first single taken from this album), displaying in close succession iconic images referring to the cover art of almost each beloved record of the Alan Parsons Project, we had every right to expect a "return trip" to that sound.

And if we don't expect an exact repetition of the recipe, we won't be dissapointed, because this is more a new incursion in that atmospheric world of delicious songs fleshed out with the particular type of orchestral (and sometimes also choral) arrangements, that once were part of the APP trademark, and now are back. There are also those ambivalent guitars floating between tonal areas, and the vocalists who know their parts, but still seem to succumb to that same slight and sweet dizziness. Close enough to, but not touching the original Project sonic paradigm, the first three tracks present the listener with the old magic: Fare Thee Well is the symphonic ouverture preparing for the journey, The Secret gears up to a typical mid-tempo APP number, like Children Of The Moon (they even quote the title), and Urobouros grows a bit of rocking teeth for a more agressive sound.

After that, they fold down to a more restrained performance, in the fashion of their previous release from 2019, The Secret. Even so, the orchestral contributions are much more focused this time around, and the compositions form a more coherent set, helped by the guests contributions, specially Tommy Shaw's vocals, and Joe Bonamassa's electric guitar solos, which add variety and energy to the overall sound.

Oddly enough, Alan chose to close the album with a couple of non-originals: Goin' Home is a 1922 song by an Antonin Dvorak's student, which inspired Symphony No. 9's Largo movement, and the Ronettes' Be My Baby closes the album in the lowest point, if considered from a strictly progressive point of view.