JOURNEY THROUGH THE HIDDEN GARDENS

Disperse is a young Polish progressive rock band that made a convincing entry on the scene with Journey Through the Hidden Gardens. They play a kind of neo-prog that sits close to Riverside, especially so on a first listen. The lush spacey sound and the warm melodic vocals stand out as most prominent features. Repeated listens reveal a more technical and heavier edge to their music, with some jazzy lead guitars and shredding solos that might also please progressive metal fans.

At their best, they bring very atmospheric heavy prog soliciting for the love of Marillion, Pink Floyd, Anathema and possibly also Porcupine Tree fans. Also the British modern neo-prog of Frost* comes to mind. Great examples are the two opening tracks, which feature epic song writing and pleasant vocal melodies.

Entering Newlands is the first of 4 songs that show the band's roots in neo-prog, resulting in a fairly old-school and commercial sound. With Let Me Get My Colours Back and the touching ballad Far Away the quality gradually improves again till it reaches the level of the opening songs on Above Clouds and Spirit of Age.

Journey Through the Hidden Gardens is not always highly original material but it's a very competent and well-crafted album of a talented young band. Disperse seem to feel especially at ease on the lengthier epic material, which is very promising! A pleasant listen. 3.5 stars

PS: the band streams their album at www.myspace.com/disperseband