THE GREAT LEAP

The album starts off well: 'Wake Up' does exactly that, a good, solid, 80s-tinged rock track. But from there the album sags, the too-loud production forcing every song at you rather than letting the music do the work. Phideaux Xavier's vocals are improving, no doubt of that, but there's still more whine or reserved irony than anything else in his voice. This has the effect - for me, anyway - of defusing any intensity generated by the music. The drummer, who co-wrote much of the material, is very much to the forefront here, and sadly his overwrought work further degrades the sound.

'Rainboy' is an excellent if predictable track, and I can only imagine how good it would be with a better vocalist and production - oh yeah, and killing off that dreadful synth solo. Other songs, such as 'They Hunt You Down' sound Floydishly portentious but do not deliver on their promise.

The album is supposedly the first of a trilogy. A dangerous thing to promise, a trilogy, especially if your enthusiasm doesn't last a full three albums, or your chops improve dramatically between one album and the next. I'm guessing that the former happened in PHIDEAUX's case - they've released two albums since the second of the trilogy, after all - but there's no doubt about the latter. The improvement after this album is marked, so if you must try this band, start with their next album.

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