THE END OF DAYS

A difficult nut to crack, this one.

This US band has so far released two albums. This is their debut album and one I find difficult to pidgeon hole.

The music here is a mix of indie rock, hard rock and a Bad Company copy. Most of the first songs sounds like Bad Company at least. Then the vocals take a dive into indie rock too. On the top of that, there is also a lot of symphonic prog and neo prog here too. Neo prog in the vein of the new Marillion post Fish is a good description too. In short, I am running out of words to describe this album.

The music is competent enough with a lot of small, interesting details. I like them best when their sound is taking a detour into classic 1970s rock and in particular; Bad Company. But the neo prog here is very good too.

The vocalist is superb and so is the musicians. Both when they are in heavy prog mode and in their more indie rock style.

With the exception of the rather short Breakdown of the Heart, there is no really great songs here either. The songs are rather long and interesting. But not great. This is a good debut album though from a band which combines a lot of genres into one album. I cannot really pidgeon hole this band at all based on this album. A strange album, it is.

3 stars

A minor entry among the US bands participating in the Prog revival of the country, Mind Furniture came from San Francisco Bay Area, propably from Redwood City, and featured a 5-piece line-up with Rick Andersen on bass, Brett Barnett and Evan Langert on vocals/keyboards, Greg Miller on drums and Scott Bullerwell on guitars.For their first album ''The End of Days'' though they were helped also by Bill Estes, Robert Shanney and Chris Ogburn (of Puppet Show fame), all playing lead guitars and Paul Harrison on bass.This was released as a private press in 2000.

The sound of Mind Furniture was a mixed bag of Classic Rock, light AOR and Progressive Rock with plenty of melodic vocals but also strong instrumental sufficiency, close to the style of STENCIL FOREST.Actually the short ones are rather straightforward with good dual guitar moves, commercial vocals, nice solos and a fair amount of keyboard workouts, pretty typical US Heavy/Classic Rock in accesible format but quite enjoyable.The longer ones are a whole another story.While the vocal parts sound pretty similar to the previous tracks with an easy-going flavor, the instrumental passages are really competitive and demanding, including some great breaks, lots of changing themes and a a strong array of keyboard mannerisms.The rather Neo Prog-ish synth waves are supported by some nice surprises like the grandiose church organ themes and series of good keyboards passages of something that appears to be either a Mellotron or an string synth, nevertheless having a deep inspiration.Even some sung-parts are sounding like the lighter side of ECHOLYN, while these tracks breeze a fresh air of pleasant feelings with their overall structure.

A very decent release overall.Not very complex but not awfully catchy either, ''The End of Days'' keeps a good balance between more accesible tunes and proggier, long arrangements, that can satisfy even an experienced ear.Recommended.