THE JOURNEY

Interesting side project by such luminaries of the neo prog movemnt such as Clive Nolan and Pete Gee (Pendragon) and guitarrist Karl Groom (Threshold). But curiosly enough, it does not sound like any of the aforementioned bands. In fact, aside from the keyboards introduction of the first song, neither Nolan nor Groom seem to try to emulate anything form their former groups. The sound is mostly a kind of AOR music with some progressive undertones here and there. Something between Asia, For Absent Friends and Saga comes in mind during the listening. I really like Ian Gould's voice, he does a great job through the whole CD. If you like pop songs with sophisticated arrangements and strong progressive influences you'll sure enjoy this album.

I'm afraid my review will make the album's rating lower, but I can't lie to myself - this is not a Masterpiece for sure, not an excellent addition and not even a good album for a Prog fan. I expected something of SHADOWLAND's kind, and I won't say I got an hour of head-crushing Avant-Metal instead. No, MEDICINE MAN's debut is a solid work in best AOR-traditions, with memorable choruses, power guitar chords and wonderful synths layers, not to mention flashy solos from both Nolan and Groom, who are the Masters of their work. But sorry, there's too little dynamics and it's hard to tell one track from another (especially in the middle of the album). It's not like it's bad or something, but it's really more a Hard-AOR/Neo-Prog album, so don't set expectations too high. Nice and enjoyable stuff, but a little bit too derivative and average even for Nolan/Groom duo. Only for die-hard SHADOWLAND- and-the-likes fans.