FAIRYTALE

When I added EGROLL to Prog Archives I did with great expectation, not only because the DVD they released (Which contained three cover tracks of Genesis, King Crimson and Jethro Tull plus two outstanding original songs) but mostly because the unreleased material which showed a great desire to create good Progressive Rock and the skills to do it, but their second release "Fairytales" was a real disappointment, the unique sound went God knows where.

Don't misunderstand me, the album is not bad, has some excellent moments but they seem to have lost the original and strong Symphonic sound they had on the two tracks of "Eggroll Live Progressive Act" and the unreleased material that I got by courtesy of the band and Raya Kosovsky who promoted many groups from Israel in her site.

The first problem I find is that the fabulous flute player Naama Shalev apparently left the band, but the rest of the members haven't changed. Lior Seker's voice remains as strong as ever but this time the role of the talented Lior Talmor in the keyboards seems left in a second plane, a great loss in both cases.

The material is oriented towards some form of light Prog mixed with an obvious Beatles influence, a touch of Radiohead and some Hard Rock but clearly they have chosen to keep closer to the safety of mainstream rather than in the risky but imaginative and original Prog, despite this facts, the quality is still there and I really hope this was only an accident or a step in their career.

I don't want to review every song as I usually do because I don't want to be hard with a band from who I still expect a lot, so I will talk about the tracks that impressed me more.

"Source of Light" starts as a soft ballad influenced by The Beatles, the piano and vocals are really good as usual, as they did in the opening of their DVD (Theme Song/Out in the Dark) turns into some sort of power ballad even when with less strength than in the previous release, good melody and still some echoes of the original style.

"Save my World" starts as an acoustic guitar ballad and when the rest of the band joins the sound is really good, melodic but strong, probably the closer they get to Prog. What I want to emphasize is the dramatic mood that reminds me a bit of Camel but darker, very strong track and impeccable vocal work.

Even when different "Must be Something" is a powerful song, Lior Seker does a very good work with Hard Rock oriented tracks and again Talmor does an outstanding job with piano and organ, but the power of the track lies in the strong guitar work and Gil Idan drums, songs as this one makes me still believe in them.

Now is the turn to comment the title song, "Fairytale" which starts with a beautiful acoustic guitar and a soft violin (Don't know if it's synthesized, but who cares, it's excellent), a folksy tune that really relaxes and shows the musicianship of the band, nice track.

"Dead End" is another dramatic song (They do better with his kind of stuff) good vocal work and bass, reminds me a bit of "Red" era King Crimson with a Symphonic atmosphere, again they hit the nail right in the head, somebody tell this guys that light stuff is not for them, they should keep this mood.

"Highlands" is a good atmospheric instrumental, again darker and dramatic, the only problem is that the two minutes leaves the listener with the honey in the lips.

"Find a Way Back Home" is a very decent track but IMHO bad choice for a closer, melodic soft and well written, maybe too strong Beatles influence and too close to mainstream, still there's something that attracts me to this song like a guilty pleasure.

The other five tracks are not bad even when very uneven, some good moments but in general terms too bland for my taste.well seven out of twelve tracks is not bad at all if you are not familiar with the potential of this band.

I don't want to end this review without asking why did they changed the name of the band to "EGGROLL AND THE SHAKES"?. Sadly most of the information about the band is in Hebrew so my curiosity will remain unanswered.

Rating the album is not hard, it's clearly over the average but I expected much more, so will go with three stars but honestly hope they return to the sound of the early years.

If you are a fan of light Prog, this is your album, relaxing, calmed, good sound and musicianship, but something is missing, still I don't regret buying the album there's always a place for it in my CD player when in the mood of softer stuff.