AND THEN THERE IS SILENCE

This is a fine prog album, although it is not one to listen to in order to blow the cobwebs away as most of the tracks are meditative in mood, although there are occasional heavier moments. There are many beautiful, melodic sections, especially piano, and the songs tend to be quite sad.

The star track for me is the opener, 'Fields of sorrow' which has a catchy riff, and a breathtaking moment when the heavy-sounding, mellotron-backed chorus suddenly morphs into ethereal piano tinkling.'Come Home' is enhanced by a string quartet and Mattias Jarlhed's clarinet, an unusual instument in prog, but very effective here. 'Reaching for Angels' has a pleasant sunthesiser backdrop to the emotional vocals. The two final tracks, She Will Dance No More' and the gentle, beautiful 'Autumn Rain are given a light jazzy feel by the very effective use of trumpet. The weak point in the album is the longest track 'Tell Me A Story' which is pleasant enough, but does not have enough ideas to justify its length.

All in all, a pleasant hour's listening for those 'in vacant or in pensive mood'.