WOLFLIGHT

'Wolflight' is definitely one of Hackett's best albums - up there with 'Voyage of the Acolyte' and 'Spectral Mornings'. Hackett has recently immersed himself in the 'Nursery Cryme' to 'Wind and Wuthering' era of Genesis (his era with the band) through the Genesis Revisited II project. This has obviously rubbed off on his own writing and can be heard in the epic, romantic sweep of much of this album. There is a pervading sound of Eastern exoticism with ethnic world music colourings. In several places this is established through the string orchestra which sounds beautifully lush and blends musical embellishments that at times are reminiscent of the Doctor Zhivago film soundtrack and Russian composer, Rimsky Korsakov's Sheherezade (the start of 'Dust and Dreams' for instance). These Russian-tinged orchestrations are most notable on the title track and the amazing 'Love Song To a Vampire' (my favourite track on the album). In other parts of the album the Eastern sound shifts more towards Arabic flavourings with instruments such as an oud and duduk being used. The track 'Corycian Fire' has a Zeppelinesque Kashmir feel. The songs are strong on this album with big choruses. Hackett doesn't have the strongest voice in the world but on many of the songs his voice is multi tracked ala 10cc 'I'm Not in Love' to create a rich harmonic sound. As you would expect Hackett's guitar chops are displayed extensively throughout but not for their own sake. On this album the instrumental passages are there to serve the song (a principle always observed by Genesis). So we get some 'Bay of Kings' classical guitar stylings to evoke mood and atmosphere as well as some soaring electric guitar passages. Melodically this stands as a strong statement for Hackett, but it doesn't quite measure up to Genesis. Many of the melodies have a folky quality and perhaps lack the inventiveness of those created by his former band. Shame about the album cover which looks like a cheap e-book gothic novel cover.

Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett's 24th solo studio album shows the maturity of a songwriter and musician who hasn't forgotten his roots. All told, Mr. Hackett has released more solo albums than all the other members of Genesis combined. He is the only Genesis alumni to still re-record and perform Genesis songs, touring the world with a band of stellar singers and musicians. His solo discography speaks for itself and Wolflight is one of his finest works.

This album is a journey through contemporary and ancient cultures and the individual struggle for freedom. World music permeates the compositions while Hackett's lyrics explore the Far East, vampires and domestic abuse, his own childhood in London, ancient Greece, Mexico, America's Deep South and Martin Luther King, Morocco and Iceland. Primal and orchestral, Hackett's electric and acoustic guitars are ever present. His varied, talented band and guest musicians and vocalists perform with perfect symmetry.

Best tracks: Wolflight, The Wheel's Turning, Corycian Fire, Black Thunder, Dust and Dreams

The concept of this album is about the relation between human and the Wolf. Also important is the hours before dawn, because it's the time that the wolf are hunting and that Steve Hackett like to write his songs. It's a unique time to let things comes naturally without any distractions. Steve has met some real wolves and played with them even if the cover could look digitally made. Now for the music, there's enough variations from one song to the other to have a good time listening the whole album all the way through. There is also many variations possible with the guitar that can be used to make percussive sounds. There's some classical sounds, flamenco and naturally some more heavy rock passages. So there is a contrast in the music with some dark ambiances and lighter atmosphere. The use of harmonica gives another color to the music. The world music sounds makes you travel in a foreign country. The choir harmonies are developed and Steve who never was the best vocalist did not push his voice too much here with better results. "Love songs to a Vampire" feature Chris Squire on bass and after a peaceful intro has many mood changes. "The Wheel's turning" put you in the amusement park's ambiance and remind me of music from his first albums. The excellent "Corycian Fire" has a world music atmosphere with world music instruments. "Black Thunder" is another great track with dark atmosphere and some nice drums and bass. There is also some interlude pieces and some less memorable songs that complete the picture of this enjoyable album.

Mister Steve Hackett still delivers the goods, obviously not intent to rest on his considerable laurels and releasing another masterful work, showing that he remains predictably unpredictable. He has found new energy on the electric scene, not surprising as he has always come across as a consummate musician and a fan (his list of guest appearances runs in pages). When you have a bass/stick man of Nick Beggs' stature, how can one not be inspired? That was a true find, Stevo!

The greatest attribute I can think of in anointing Hackett with special accolades is that he gives the fans what they want: guitar innovations and solos! He is not a musical dilettante who amuses his ego by playing sloppily (and rarely) just to piss others off! I actually showed some you tube vids to an unsuspecting female music fan (who knew nothing of Hackett but knew of "Abacab") and she was shocked how great control and technique he displayed.

There are a few outright jewels here, from the title track to the exhilarating "Love Song to a Vampire", an archetypical Hackett anthem that blends a fabulous melody, choir work, blistering guitar phrasings, a thunderous beat and a genial structure that keeps things palpitating ! That choir blast amid the Roger King orchestrations is insane BTW! Instant pleasure!

The Brits seem fascinated by the carnival, it's an oft repeated theme in both music and film, a merry go round of seemingly simple social pleasures that are overt on the playful "The Wheel's Turning", mixing in the circus like stylings with some brawny playing (Beggs and drummer O'Toole really flex their muscles here), while Hackett tears off some wah-wah licks to great effect. Slightly bluesy and pure fun!

"Corycian Fire" refers to the Corycian cave in Greece, where the oracle began in ancient times and it depicts the rights of wild women invoking the rebirth of Dionysus. Hackett gives the piece a slight Mediterranean touch, with brash percussives and almost Wagnerian chanting that explodes mightily into the soaring sky.

The acoustic Hackett is equally enthralling, so "Earthshine" fulfills that function brilliantly, showcasing his ridiculous maitrise, his picking is phenomenal, rapid and precise. "Loving Sea" has a highly 70s resonance both musically and lyrically, lead and backing vocals conspiring together to create a very pastoral sound, sort of CSNY with prog tendencies. So as such such, its nice but not memorable.

But "Black Thunder" fixes that in a hurry, a booming and volatile beat with the rhythm section doing some serious heavy damage. The guitar attack is nasty, the choir backing voluptuous and the soloing simply devastating. Lots of stop and start themes, mood swings, hodgepodge of industrial sounds and a wickedly tortured solo, you really see the visceral Hackett at work here, not exactly softening up his old age attitude. He can and does, still rock. The highlight track must assuredly be "Dust and Dreams" , a perfect groove laid down by the Beggs-O'Toole tandem riding on burning coals, hot and smoldering, as Hackett drapes his Siberian toned guitar and unleashes a solo that curdles the blood and gooses the skin. Brrrrrr, bloody magic! The mood is oppressive, symphonic and demented, having a similar feel to his classic tune "In Memoriam" off the Darktown album.

This is not his best ever but a close third after Voyage and Spectral, a solid release by prog's resident strongman and legend. 4 lupo lux

Wolves and vampires

After the massively successful Genesis Revisited tour, Steve Hackett announced another solo album to be called Wolflight. I had the hope then that it would be an album in the style of Genesis Revisited II but with new, original material and utilizing the touring band including the Peter Gabriel/Phil Collins-like vocals of Nad Sylvan. Instead, Wolflight is an album very much in the same style as Steve's previous half-dozen Rock albums. Not that I mind another album in that style as I like these albums very much with To Watch The Storms, Out Of The Tunnel's Mouth, and Guitar Noir being my favourites from recent decades. Yet, I still feel that Steve's recent handful of albums have followed a rather similar formula. Even some of the song-titles are similar to earlier songs with the title track risking to be confused with the earlier song Wolfwork from 2006's Wild Orchids or the track Love Song To A Vampire with Vampire with a Healthy Appetite from Guitar Noir. Nonetheless, Wolflight is by no means uninspired and is indeed yet another good entry in a long string of good albums that Steve has produced since the 90's.

There is as usual a dark mood and an eclectic mixture of influences ranging from Folk to Classical to Blues (Rock) to (progressive) Rock and beyond. Steve's vocals and guitar work is as strong as ever and the songs are good. The first half of the album is especially strong but I feel that the last few tracks are less memorable. Overall, I think that Wolflight is a bit stronger than the previous Beyond The Shrouded Horizon but not as good as Out Of The Tunnel's Mouth.

Steve Hackett has often returned to darker themes, with occasional gothic themes such as the songs "Vampire with a healthy appetite", "Wolfwork", "Transylvanian Express", "The Devil is an Englishman" , songs with a touch of humour. And some albums have had an overall dark or gloomy, melancholic feel, like "Defector","Guitar Noir" and "Darktown".

Since the 2000's his music have not reached the same level of sincerity and introspectiveness as previous stuff in my opinion, and have instead become more outreaching , occasionally "prog-tribute"-oriented, with a larger awareness of the audience . Although Wild Orchids (2006) returned to a darker concept after the lighter "To watch the Storms" (2001) , it was entertaining and varied rather than deep. In Hacketts 2013 album "Beyond the shrouded Horizon" the mood was more exotic, where you "travelled" to far away places, with a more "new-agey" atmosphere than usual, which I appreciated.

The latest album is Wolflight , which seems to be a return to a dark concept. At least it's got wolves and there is a song about a vampire. But I think Hackett combines all elements he has previously used, into a dynamic concept, so there is a bit of everything.

The songs transition into another, and the moods and styles change more flexibly than ever, from solo acoustic guitar to rock parts with orchestral accompaniment, to ethnic world music. It feels a bit like a show, like it is presented to an audience. It is theatrical and entertaining with many changes. The moods are mostly familiar and simple. One particular harmony is like the theme from "Vampire for a healthy appetite", the first two chords. This harmony is very recurring throughout the album and brings a kind of dark vibe, but more in a children friendly familiar way rather than mysterious and chilling.

The first four tracks (except the "intro" track") feels like a concept, long, eventful and ambitious, with a sort of rhapsodic style, while the rest of the songs are not as intricately composed and evolving, keeping more to one style. Because of that, in a strange way, the album feels short, although its around 55 minutes.

It feels like most of the energy has gone to arranging and adding a lot of sounds to the music, creating a living and dynamic experience, and the performance is very good, but the core of the music ? the musical ideas, the harmonies and melodies and main grooves, which is most important for me, are straightforward and dull. It seems that many songs have a couple of main themes which are unrelated, which is connected by various in-between sections. It's not a strong album to me.

1 Out of the body

There are some subtle sound of wolfs, then a a fast groove starts which evolves and goes through a couple of themes that will appear in later songs. Orchestral strings and other orchestral instruments are involved, and electric guitar of course , with a large sound.

2. Wolflight (8.00)

This is probably the most varied track Steve Hackett has ever done. Begins with two successive interludes, one ethnic, the other soft symphonic, and then the song starts for real with Hackett singing, in a cozy mood, with acoustic guitar, telling a story. There are too many parts to be able to describe everything. It evolves through various parts into a "darker" main theme. There is orchestral stuff, electric guitar with a big sound, there's a short spanish section, and many different themes. Hackett manages to make it sound simple and not confusing, which is impressive. But with all those parts, it feels kind of short when it just ends at eight minutes. And the melodies and harmonies are not too exciting for me. But this song defines the album the most, showing an evolvement in Hackett's music making.

3. Lovesong to a vampire (9:17)

The longest song has a large sound in a melancholic and maybe a bit of nostalgic mood with a slightly folk-ish lyrical structure, going from a verse of soft acoustic guitar and singing to a loud and dramatic main chorus with vocal parts and drums. There's also an instrumental section with electric guitar soloing. The soft lyrical verse evolves each time with added classical instruments. Towards the end there is a change of style into an instrumental rock riff with electric guitar soloing. Then there is a part from Wolfwork (Wild Orchids) except that the guitar melody is different. Like the previous song it is very rich in arrangement and instrumentation. But I am distracted by the reminiscence of "In the court of the Crimson King" ? which is an obvious influence, although it has different harmonies. And since it's so long, it's a bit too heavily focused on the chorus, a good chorus, but short, and sensitive to repetitions.

4. The Wheel's Turning (7.24)

This also has a lot of parts, but is mainly an uptempo song with a catchy pop chorus. Then after a short orchestral theme by what sounds like a sample from some symphony, a russian symphony I would guess, it goes into triplet form and evolves into a rock blues shuffle. Then after a while of jamming, it's back to triplet form, and via the symphony-sample back to the straight uptempo parts of the song with the chorus and guitar solo fading out. Eventful, but not too interesting.

5. Corycian Fire (5.47)

Middle eastern intro with authentic instruments, but familiar tonality. Then a symphonic part enters with vocals, and the chords are the same as the chorus on "The Fundamentals of Brainwashing" (Wild Orchids), a heavy groove in half time starts, and the chords are such that it is compatible with the middle eastern scale. It goes in to a double speed rock part, then comes back to original speed.A choir comes in on top of the orchestral strings and percussion, singing latin words, which escalates into a Carmina Burana inspired thing, which I found pretentious.

6 Earthshine 3:20

Classical solo acoustic guitar piece. "Bay of Kings" and "Momentum" are among my favourite albums, but this song doesn't add anything new. It's in a style similar to "A Midsummer Night's Dream". But there was a great acoustic track on his previous album, in the deluxe version , called "Four Winds West".

7 Loving Sea

The previous song ended on a major key, and this song picks it up in a feel-good way. It is sort of like "Happy the Man" by Genesis (same key, has an egg keeping the beat, and acoustic guitar), but straight rather than swingy feeling, and more of a modern "Yes"-feelgood mood, with vocals in many harmonic layers, too layered for my tastes. The chorus have the same chords as "Ripples", only the first 2 chords, but that harmony is very characteristic, and there is a lyrical resemblance:"Carry me to the loving sea", and "Sail away, away". Too feelgood and "nice" for my taste.

8. Black Thunder (7.32)

Blues rock song with a firm riff. Hackett sings a phrase which is responded with the riff interchangeably. After a while an orchestral part comes in and the songs goes into an instrumental, sort of free-form part, with guitar soloing backed by a percussion/drum figure and bass grooving. I like the outro part with some jazzy harmonies, not unfamiliar though, and I'm not a fan of the soprano sax, but still kind of nice. More complex and otherworldly harmonies is what I have been missing from Hackett, I'm thinking about Tigermoth for example.

9. Dust and dreams (5:33)

I was excited about Hugo Degenhart being featured on this song. He played drums on some Hackett albums in the 90's. But here he only plays a couple of bars that are looped, in two different grooves. There is a half-time shuffle feeling, oriental scale, boring harmonies. The main melody is the same oriental main theme from the album "Metamorpheus"(2005). It moves into a second part , in straight feeling similar to "Loch Lomond", there is a more spacey ambience with strings. The guitar is nice, but overall, I feel that this goes on autopilot.

10. Heart Song (2.51)

Continuing from the previous song, some vocals come in, and there is a chord sequence which is the exact same one from "Blue Child" (Wild Orchids), playing to the end.

It's always a little concerning when a veteran band or solo artist (and in Hackett's case, he was a veteran of about 45 years at this point) with a successful career behind them is actively proclaiming their latest album as possibly the best thing they'd ever done. With Hackett, his proclamations concerning Wolflight were at least a little more plausible than corresponding proclamations might have been from others, given the generally high quality of his later-period works, but while I was glad to see that Hackett had gotten back to making new solo material rather than milking Genesis Revisited II for the rest of his life, some nagging concerns took hold in my mind even before I saw that Hackett was hyping this up pretty hard. By this point, it had been a little while since Beyond the Shrouded Horizon and A Life Within a Day, and the thought crossed my mind that Hackett, in the midst of working on new material during his downtime between GR shows, would (a) get it into his head that he somehow needed to prove something with his new album (in order to counter the return of the "Oh he's the old guitarist for Genesis" persona that he'd spent most of his career trying so hard to avoid), and (b) would have had a little too much time to tinker with the material endlessly. I mean, while I'm a big fan of Beyond the Shrouded Horizon, a great deal of what I find charming about it is that it does not feel to me like somebody self-consciously trying to make a great album, and instead just sounds like the best product of Hackett's "hey this could sound neat" era. Well, Wolflight ends up bringing a lot of my fears to fruition, even if it's still a rather good album on the whole. In a weird way, it reminds me of Up by Peter Gabriel; not in how the music actually sounds, of course, but in the way that it sounds endlessly worked on in a way that makes me wonder if an earlier draft of the album might have sounded a bit better.

In terms of how this album actually sounds, it's still basically in the same vein as most typical late-period Hackett, but it also gives me the sense that Hackett listened to Voyage of the Acolyte a lot of times while making this and felt it necessary in some way to get back to his "pure" prog roots a bit more (another good comparison would be the long instrumental breaks in "Emerald and Ash"). The tracks that are meant to be medium-length "epics" tend to take pretty solid core material and pad them out with LOTS of long and complicated instrumental breaks that generally sound great for a little while but end up striking me as completely excessive, even though I'm generally partial to such things. "Wolflight" starts off with some great Mid-Eastern-tinged guitar flourishes (and then bits that sound like they're out of the soundtrack to a Tim Burton movie) before going into a nice anthem/ballad cross that sounds like typical solid late-period Hackett (lots of acoustic guitar, lots of orchestra-ish synths), but the guitar-driven passages, as entertaining as they might be at any given individual moment, are just too much of a good thing. The 9-minute "Love Song to a Vampire" is damned beautiful and atmospheric and decadent in the main song portion, but again, there's too much song and too many instrumental breaks that are too similar in overall effect to hold my attention for the whole length. "Corycian Fire" starts off quiet and mystic, but then it turns into something pretty close to "A Life Within a Day" in terms of trying to milk the vibe of "Kashmir" pretty hard, and while I like the speedy licks that underpin the final passage, I find the bombastic choir pretty ridiculous.

Not all of the longer tracks make me feel this uneasy, fortunately. "The Wheel's Turning" starts off with a goofy dark dose of circus music like something off of To Watch the Storms or Wild Orchids, and it morphs into a surprisingly memorable and cheery song, but instead of trying to wreck the rest of the song, the instrumental passages are varied enough in a fun way (complete with a great and all-too-brief harmonica break) to make me enjoy it a lot. "Black Thunder" alternates between quiet and graceful passages, on the one hand, and pounding hard rock licks (with a really fascinating guitar sound in its best moments), on the other, and while it probably shouldn't last more than seven minutes, it's still a lot of fun. And the closing combination of "Dust and Dreams" and "Heart Song" makes for a rousing conclusion; "Dust and Dreams" is one of Steve's best dalliances with Middle Eastern music, as he creates an intoxicating instrumental that often reminds me of the dance of a coiled cobra before a snake charmer, and the way it so seamlessly connects with the love balladry of "Heart Song" serves as a great example as to why I find his solo work so enjoyable at times.

Of course, as often happens with Hackett solo albums, I find myself drawn most to the material that was probably not front and center in Steve's mind as he was putting together the album. "Earthshine" is a delightful acoustic instrumental on an album that badly needs one of Hackett's delightful acoustic instrumentals, as is the bonus track "Pneuma," which is basically in the same vein but a little more subdued in mood. "Loving Sea" comes within a hair of sounding exactly like Simon and Garfunkel, and it's so cheery and memorable and so unexpected that it perks me up and makes me happy every time I hear it. And finally, the remaining bonus track, "Midnight Sun," might just well be the best track on the entire disc, a song full of terrific intensity that always feels like it's not being fully unleashed, and with Hackett providing light decorative texture in the background until it's unleashed just enough for about 30 seconds in the middle.

In the end, I do like this album, but I ended up having to try a little harder than I've become accustomed to with assimilating late-period Hackett in order to get to that point. For all of its better aspects, this is his weakest "regular" album since Darktown, and the first of his albums in the 21st century that I wouldn't necessarily consider a must listen for anybody who generally likes Hackett. Also, the cover kinda sucks.

This is one of the few modern prog albums in my collection, having picked it up only shortly after its release. And I will say that while I don't typically care for modern prog, this album was a pleasant surprise, though that probably owes to the fact that Steve Hackett isn't exactly a modern prog artist, having been playing for 40+ years. "Wolflight" is a collection of songs that Steve Hackett has written while traveling around the world, as described in the liner notes, and the variety of experiences Steve has had is certainly reflected in the eclectic style of the music.

There's plenty of different stuff on "Wolflight", from dramatic ballads like "Love Song To A Vampire" to rock and blues in "The Wheel's Turning" to the latin-esque "Earthshine". It also ranges from calm and serene in "Heart Song" to upbeat in "Loving Sea" to pseudo-metal in the title track. In terms of the sound of the album, much of the music comes across as sounding a lot more like Joe Satriani or Steve Vai than Hackett's Genesis. The production is smooth and clear and the performances are well-executed; Steve has clearly been in the business long enough to know how to lay down a quality album.

There isn't really any bad material on "Wolflight" and it makes for a good, reliable listening experience. However, there isn't really any memorable content, either. A good but non- essential album and a must-have for Hackett fans.

This was my first introduction to the magical world of Steve Hackett.One day early in 2016 I was checking out good albums that I missed in 2015 and the cover of this album caught my attention. I knew who Hackett was so I decided to try it and boy I was surprised. Hackett is clearly a guitar virtuoso which is evident on this album. This album has great transition between classical acoustic guitar passages to heavy rock riffs and I must say I am impressed by his singing style which he uses to deliver stories. The title comes from the mystical blue light that appears just before the sun rises and is the time when wolfs go hunting. The first half of the album is particularly very strong and is filled with great tracks such as the title track and the lovely melodic track "Love Song To A Vampire" (his vocal work is superb in this one and the lyrics are well thought out like a poetry) . The Mighty Chris Squire plays bass in this track. The album has great use of orchestra too and has influences from world music. The production quality is great and I would recommend this to everyone. This is one of Hackett's strongest album. I had goosebumps while listening to this on a cold day. Stop reading this review and try it!

Review # 50. Steve Hackett needs no introduction. He is one of the finest guitar players of the last decades. He was present in the first and most important period of Genesis before quitting the band and follow a solo career. I'm not a music critic, so I will try to approach this album from the side of a music lover and a fan of Rock & Progressive Rock. For starters, I would like to say that in my opinion 'Wolflight' is probably his best work since 'Voyage of the Acolyte' (1975) and 'Spectral Mornings' (1979). I have listened to the album 5-6 times so far, and every time I discover something new which I hadn't noticed before. The compositions are of high standards, the production is excellent, and the participating musicians are extremely talented ones. The album's main "theme" is the relation between a man and a wolf. So we can say that it is a 'concept' album in a way. Let's take a look at the music now: What Steve Hackett is presenting here, is a mixture of many different styles of music styles, including Rock, Ethnic, Flamenco, Jazz, Classical etc, blended altogether in a beautiful way, and underlined with his wonderful guitar playing. What I enjoyed the most is the changes of music styles within the songs. For example, a song can start with an acoustic guitar playing a flamenco-based tune, which is turning into a classical inspired music theme, and suddenly an electric guitar appears playing wonderful melodies, changing the style of the song completely. (The first time I listened to the album I wasn't so much impressed, but when I started listening to it over and over again it started revealing its musical beauty to me). The musicians who are participating are all very talented ones as I mentioned above, and further than the 6 standard ones, there are 4 more participating as guests, with Chris Squire of 'Yes' being one of them. The album consists of 10 songs, and has a total running time of almost an hour. As for my favorite songs, these are: 'Love Song to a Vampire', 'Corycian Flame' and 'Dust and Dreams/Heart Song'. Concluding this post I would like to mention that 'Wolflight' is one of these - rare in our days - albums which you can listen from the start 'till the end, without having to skip not even one song. Of course there are 'stronger' and 'weaker' moments, but the overall quality is a very high one! The album is available in MP3 and CD version, and as a double vinyl album. Speaking for myself, I have the MP3 version so far, but I'm going to buy the vinyl version very soon. :-) I totally recommend 'Wolflight' to all those who are fans of Rock or Progressive Rock music. I'm sure you will not regret buying this album! As for my rating, this would be 4.00 stars.

As a definitve Genesis fan, mainly of the Hackett era, I was always a bit disappointed by his solo efforts. I liked some tracks on the first albums, but that's all. Then, I saw him this year for Genesis Revisited and he did some personal tracks as well, and It was good.

So, I'm trying now to listen again to his records and I'm discovering that he's doing a far better music since he's separated from Kim Poor... I don't know if it's related, but Wolflight, for example, is really enjoyable compared to everything he did prior to 2008. And, last but not least, even if the sleeves designs are not that good, I hated Kim's very... poor paintings.

This is a good four stars record for me !

(and, yes, I don't like Voyage of the Acolyte... except for Shadow of course. I like Spectral Mornings, it's the only record I like of the pre-2009 era.)

Steve falling in love?

Higher amount of tender longs/ballads is unusual for Steve Hackett's solo albums. This one has a particular place in the discography due to fine melodies, high accessibility and solid guitar playing (as usual). Thankfully, there are also longer tracks that stay in your music mind. Singing has become highlight of Steve's records by now, be it for his matured singing abilities or vocal support from others.

Highlights are the epic title track with almost metallic edge, the ethereal ballad "A love song to a vampire". "Wheel's turning" caught my attention thanks to the symphonic orchestral motive. "Earthshine" confirms classy acoustic guitar abilities. "Heart song" is yet another tender song and could be well used as a single on radios.

A good pop/rock album but because of not a usual amount of progressive elements, 3 stars for proggers and 4 stars for others.