GOODBYE TO DUSK FAREWELL TO DAWN

So this is the band that called a lot of attention in germany during the last few months. The four guys from Wiesbaden/Germany can be found on several german prog websites or magazines and made it to some "suggestion of the month" titles on these sites. They are said to be THE new hope for german prog and are right on track to prove this point.

"Goodbye to dusk, farewell to dawn" is their first official album and was released in February 2004. I bought it after their concert wich took place 5 minutes walk away from my home, one practical point about newcomer bands. Unlike their EP "As they came they slightly disappeared" wich was limited to 300 copies, this album is available world wide and until now, very successful.

And this happened not by accident as you will see in the further progression of this review. The first track seems to begin where the late TALK TALK ended, a lot of world weariness, fragile piano and atonal sound, far from it, as you will hear after two minutes. You get sustained guitar lines with lot of reverberation as well as powerfull drumming. After it, the song ends just like it started with the exception that now an acoustic guitar plays the part of the fragile piano. The next song "tartaros" is a song that sounds a bit like Radiohead but fortunately with less "lamentational" vocals with powerful and mellow moments, beautiful. "Devil Song" has nothing to do with its title. What you get here is a soulful ballad dominated by acoustic guitar besides muted keyboard layers. The next song "gangters" is a highlight. Every proghead will love this one. Unlike "Devil Song" this track has a lot to do with its title. A lot of rythm changes, odd time signatures besides jazz like parts and english, respectively spanish singing. You really can imagine some gangters sitting around a table at times of the prohibition, nice. But the highlight for sure is the ending where you get VdGG like saxophone breakouts, awesome. Afterwards it gets quite mellow, almost elegiac and dolorous. Lonely piano or guitar tunes accompany with the melancolic chant. But "The drowning man in my hands" never gets boring it's just very melancolic. "Hide inside" is brighter and faster slightly reminiscent of Porcupine Tree. Now two longtracks follow. The first one begins like TALK TALK but not as odd but likewise soulful. The song raises continuously to an fulminant ending with choirs and organ just to to die away purely acoustic with guitar. The last track starts with the same instrument and also features the same pattern, mellow melancolic moments exchanging with loud and heavy parts. Luis Gabbiani sings italian on this track, very nice.

Conclusion: A felicitous debut. You will identify their impacts but they manage it to have their own sound and avoid beeing a copy of any band (a destiny that I have to chalk up many other bands). Their music is often described as "New Artrock" but I think that this term restricts them a lot. Yes, it sounds like Radiohead, Porcupine Tree or Talk Talk but they also feature parts sounding like VdGG or early Genesis. But it doesn't mean that they have no own sound, it's just a comparison to give you an impression.

What remains is the awareness that good music and good bands don't necessarily have to be from metropolitan cities like New York, London or Berlin. Also the province (in comparison to the named cities) offers great musicianchip and talent. I'm sure that we will hear more from this great band. 4 Stars, but they're very close to the 5 (Their EP "As they came they slightly disappeared" would get 5 stars because it's even better)!