TEMPEST

It took me quite a while to make up my mind about this album before I wanted to do the review. The reason is this is one of the most varied albums I own. The only common ground I discovered was the fact all tracks are instrumental. It's almost as if the band wants to show all sorts of possibillities for instrumental music. I'll sum it up for you:

1. Tempest. If North Star would have done all their songs this way I would have considered a four star rating probably but unfortunately this track is misleading. It's likely the best track according to my taste and shows pretty impressive guitarwork as main feature. 4*

2. Yes, I know is much more distorted with keys as dominant instrument. Weird tones and tunes and darkish in mood, quite original with windsounds towards the end. 3,25*

3. Bathroom by the Bongos starts with percussion sounds taken over by keys and guitar later on. Sort of improvisation this one, not really the best composition you will ever hear. 3*

4. Weakest track of the album (Bach's Prelude in C) showcasing tempo shifts and variation in detail on xylophone. Maybe a nice invention but a bit boring when you listen to it more often. 2,75*

5. Opus V is much more jazzy over sudden than previous songs. I always love the jazzy stuff so bring it on I'd say. It just proves my statement in first paragraph by now. But there's more to come. 3,5* for Opus V

6. Raudra sounds totally middle eastern with Joe Newman on sitar. Funny thing is when I checked out this track on my mp3 (along with other bands) I thought this was a typical Osiris (Bahrain neoband) track. But it appeared this 6th tune by North Star. Interesting. 3,75*

7. With "Getting guige wit it" North Star proves they can also handle the semi-classical material. Another really nice one but still I miss the true excellence. 3,25*

8. Plastic Bombastic seems to be a wind dominated song but since there are no winds in the line-up it's probably the keys imitating them. Not one of the best this one. 3 *

9. Goodbye Mom is second best and (coincidence or not) the second with prominent guitar. Just guess what my fav instrument is, hu ? Anyway another very good one. 3,75 *

10. Another one with wind imitation to round things off. Colossus simply proves to me this album just doesn't make the cut as far as I'm concerned. 3*

And the cut being the limit level between 3 and 4 stars that is. In the end the album lacks direction and this one proves that variation isn't a guarentee for succes. The final score is some 3,3 for me. I'm curious what other North Star albums sound like... I'll check them out one day.