BEHIND THE CURTAINS

Nice to see this Finnish band is here already, and even with some reviews. Their first album from 2009 is for some reason classified under Gospel Rock in Tampere Library. Naturally I'm going to borrow it as soon as possible. However this second one is a plain prog album - you can see it right from the Neo-Proggish cover. Some of the musicians (e.g. Risto Salmi, saxophones) are from MIST SEASON, which is a Jazz/Fusion group. The line-up has changed since the debut, and the introductory text - featuring praising words about the new members - gives an idea that now they are much more seriously in the Finnish Prog scene. They have even invited some foreign prog musicians such as Michael Manring (bass) and Steve Unruh (violin). The new vocalist is Elina Hautakoski, a young lady with a beautiful voice.

For a prog connoisseur their sound is not very unique with its clean, nearly sterile production, but they blend various music genres into a logical artistic whole without ever sounding pretentious. Neo-Prog, pop and jazz flavours are obvious, and I'd like to add Entertainment Vocal Music (Elaine Paige, Katherine Jenkins and such). One song started pretty much in that style but evolved into proggier direction. Instrumentals (were there two or three of them) are something you might hear on older ARENA or IQ albums too; the jazz side actually could come out more strongly. Also I believe that Elina could manage to handle some more ambitious vocal parts too. All in all this is very fine work, enjoyable from start to finish. Perhaps I miss some more depth or rougher edges in this polished album. Maybe they are still on their way to really find their uniqueness.

I wish this band a good future!