STILL THE WATERS

3,5 stars, really. I really liked this album. It is Epignosis first and surely it shows great promise. Actually it is a one man band (Robert W. Brown, Jr. who plays all the instruments and sings). and while the guy is very talented and skilled, there are also some flaws on this record. First and foremost are the vocals: Brown is no singer. Ok, he does not blow it, but to this kind of music a ´real´ singer would enhance his work a lot instead of dragging it. He sounds sincere and passionate about his message. Yet, the vocals on this record are nowhere near the lush instrumental parts. The christian lyrics don´t bother me at all, since he is not really preachy and they are well done.

It would be noice to see him having a real band playing behind him. Or should I say a real good drummer along with a vocalist. The programmed drums always annoys me when i think of symphonic rock. Again the results are far from bad. But they could be improved a lot if a real skilled musician was provinding the beat. I just love the guitar solos and the bass and keyboards parts, clearly his strong points. His solos are very emotional, poingnant and beautiful. The songwriting is another nice find: captivating, varied and tasteful, he pays homage to his heroes of the the 70´s and still deliver a sound that is already very personal. There are no fillers, all tracks are very good and I hear this CD with great pleasure every time I put it on. The lack of a good vocalist and drummer is a letdown, though. But those faults are easy to fix. So is the rather lacklustre production. Still The Waters deserved a better technical recording.

Conclusion: musically excellent. I´d give it gladly four or even five stars if the vocals, drums and production were bettter. But it is only his first efford. I´m looking forward to hear his next releases. If you like symphonic prog rock with lots of great melodies and outstanding instrumental passages, you should not miss this one. I really hope this is only the beginning of a long and remarkable discography.