THE DAWN OF TIME

I don`t understand why I never heard anything about Shades of Dawn.I would say that it fit perfectly for the people who like neo-prog.The second half of the cd is just amazing and well done. The guitar playing by Hans just blew me away. This cd starts slowly but don`t worry it has 50 minutes out of 69 of good music.The only negative thing I have to say is that the singing is a little bit to speedy like Castarnac!

All in all this album is not too bad. BUT: the first thing I recognize is the singing. It is in a high region and the singer does not reach eat smooth. He works in his highest region and this does not sound rather comfortable. Then there is the drumming. It's a bit Phil Collins like. But, as the booklet says, no clicktracks were used - they should have used them, the timing seems week in some places. The Keys are in a symphatic Genesis way, which is fine, if you like it. Some guitars sound a bit too much like Steve Hackett.

A Genesis-Clone? No, not really, but you can hear there Influence a bit too much, at least for my taste. I mean, I like the old Genesis stuff, but somehow I don't get along with this album in the same way.

Although this album appeared before "From Dusk till Dawn", the material is actually more recent. The style is more or less neo prog, reminding me alot of IQ in the sense that they often go for a long drawn out yet overly rushed and big sound at the expense of subtlety and melody, with the resulting lack of memorability. This is especially evident on the first three tracks, even if "Threads of Reality" displays a few appealing Middle Eastern brush strokes, but the tendency does permeate most of the album.

The shortest track is basically a decent classically inspired piano solo, "Ulysses Rollercoaster", and it effectively separates the mediocre from the decent material. Apart from the general neo and, by extension, Genesis influence, I also hear Shades of later Eloy, which is not a bad thing in my opinion. The four part instrumental which follows features more concise themes especially on synths in the later stages. "Plenty of Gold" begins with crickets and then becomes a stately slower paced spacey ballad. Even if it does drag a bit in the middle, the changes of pace are a welcome contrast to what came before. Klein's vocals are somewhat higher registered a la Frank Bornemann meets Jon Anderson, but they generally get the job done. "Sometimes" is even better, with an elegant memory first conveyed in wordless vocalizations then idealistic lyrics about the state of the world, featuring some heartfelt harmonies.

Apart from the aforementioned weaknesses typical of much neo, my big problem with the album is that it sounds less interesting each time I hear it, for which I dock a half star. The band has a lot of good ideas but needs to live up to its name by producing more "shades" that reflect the beauty of the dawn light.

Out of the Dusseldorf-based rock band Kawumm came the birth of Shades of Dawn,when vocalist/guitarist Hans Jürgen Klein joined the band and the rename followed in 1993.Shortly after original guitarist Karl Nothen left them along with his bluesy style to be replaced by Klein's melodic approach.Shades of Dawn suffered from line-up changes since then with original members Wolfgang Schmidt (bass,guitar) and Annette Schepermann (keys) quiting and newbies keyboardist Cyrill Stoletzky and bass player Theo Labs joining shortly after.This line- up recorded ''The dawn of time'',released on Early Birds.

Filled with long tracks,''The dawn of time'' will satisfy any fan of Symphonic Rock with some Neo Prog elements.The sound recalls bands as COLLAGE, ANYONE'S DAUGHTER, AMENOPHIS and MARILLION.The guitar work is excellent,slighly distorted, delivering plenty of breaks,melodic solos and dreamy passages.Klein is supported by a talented Cyrill Stoletzky,who's keyboards are everywhere with both aggresive and atmospheric style.The flashy synth soloing,light organ passages and Classical-inspired piano will leave you speechless.The compositions are all in a high level with numerous shifting moods,a grandiose atmosphere and a huge amount of energy.However Klein's vocals are questionable,not actually bad, but definitely accented and with a need for improvement, marking the long instrumental sections as the album's highlights.

This is very good Symphonic Rock with both guitars' and keyboards' explosions and anyone searching for this particular style along with a high level of energy will find ''The dawn of time'' absolutely fascinating.The album still comes strongly recommended for fans of Classic Progressive Rock and Neo Prog...3.5 stars.