TRADITION

In the most prolific period of Japanese Symphonic/Neo/Hard Prog another band to came to surface were Providence.They were found in 1985 in Sapporo by keyboardist Madoka Tsukada along with original female singer Yoko Kubota.Bassist Kazuno Tsuyoshi , drummer Chiba Hideki and guitarist Miyamoto Kenichi completed the first line-up, which recorded the demo tape ''Tradition'' in 1986 with tracks recorded between June and October of 1985.

A cassette only release, very rare of course nowadays, ''Tradition'' is split into the so-called light and dark sides.The first side of the cassette, the light one, opens with ''Sir Sangelman lament'', a quite Neo-Proggish track with a high level of energy, some great synth work by Tsukada and dynamic guitar playing, not far from the British bands of the time and style.Vocals are mediocre but the vocal lines are really decent on the chorus.The following 9-min. ''The holy spring of Luru Dex'' sounds a bit more on the vintage side with Tsukada delivering some great organ solos all the way, while Kenichi's guitar have a slight Fusion edge.Plenty of good breaks throughout but this time the vocals of Kubota are rather unbearable.The second side of the cassette, the dark one, is covered with the long 18-min. epic ''I talk to the tradition''.Opening with Kubota's vocals, the track gets soon really energetic with a pounding rhythm section and hard-sounding guitars before the calm break, featuring smooth guitars and some spacey keyboard soloing by Tsukada.After the middle a bombastic haunting synth section will lead into a fantastic Tsukada piano performance filled with grandieur and supported by Kenichi's complex guitar playing.Towards the end the opening hard-sounding notes are followed by a dramatic outro with distorted vocals, psychedelic guitars and grand background synthesizers.Notice that the production is very poor with an unacceptable mix, like the band recording in a rehearsal room, fortunately most of the music is very interesting

Typical product of 80's Japanese prog.Mediocre sound quality, below average vocals but also plenty of powerful and adventurous instrumental music.Recommended if you run over a copy.