ENTERTAINING ANGELS

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It's been quite some time since Landmarq released a studio album, the last being Science Of Coincidence way back in 1998. There have been a number of live releases since then including the band's first DVD - Turbulence, Live In Poland in 2006. The delay has in part unfortunately been down to vocalist Tracy Hitchings diagnosis with cancer a few years ago. Thankfully she has now been given the all clear and made a full recovery and is back in fine form.

Entertaining Angels is a great comeback for Landmarq and whilst I don't have all their albums in my collection it's the strongest set of songs I've heard from them. It's a consistently enjoyable collection of neo prog verging on crossover with strong and memorable melodies throughout. Lush keyboard work prevails alongside some fantastic and very tasteful guitar work from Uwe D'Rose including some searing Gilmour style soloing. Icing on the cake though has to be Tracy Hitchings gorgeous vocals whose theatrical delivery soars over this excellent collection and proves that she's one of the finest female vocalists working in prog, or any other genre today.

Most of the songs exceed the eight minute barrier with album closer Calm Before The Storm reaching sixteen minutes. Landmarq go for strong hooks over complex instrumental workouts and it works in their favour. Whilst unlike many prog bands we don't get a myriad of changes on most the tracks but they never appear overly long and laboured. This in part has to be down to the way Tracy expertly builds her vocal parts keeping the listener captivated, Part 2 of Glowing being a shining example. There's still room for some strong instrumental passages though with sax making a guest appearance on a couple of occasions for added colour.

The album is also available in a limited edition which includes a bonus disc with a further four tracks making up an extra thirty minutes of listening. Whilst these make a welcome addition there's nothing on here as strong as the main album but nevertheless worth the extra few quid. Overall then Entertaining Angels is a great return for Landmarq and sure to keep fans of the band happy and hopefully get them a few new ones along the way.

Turbulence?

If you happen to know the live concert DVD Turbulence released in 2006 (or, if you have seen the band live recently?), several of the tracks on this new studio album will be familiar to you. The title track, Mountains Of Anglia, Prayer, and the 16 minute plus Calm Before The Storm were all included on the Turbulence DVD (but ironically not the track called Turbulence itself). As such, more than half of the music on this album is at least six years old. But during this time little or nothing has happened to these songs or to the sound of the band in general. Like on the previous Science Of Coincidence from 1998, the songs are lush and melodic and filled with modern keyboard and clean, soaring lead guitar. I again find this music very pleasant and enjoyable, but somewhat lightweight.

Even if I think that Tracy Hitchings is a fantastic vocalist, I much prefer the Damian Wilson-era of Landmarq. The excellent debut album Solitary Witness remains my favourite Landmarq album and nothing they did after that has impressed me. There is no denying that these people are very talented musicians, and this is certainly another good Landmarq album, but again I fail to be impressed. As I said in my review of Science Of Coincidence, anyone looking for something dark or heavy should definitely look elsewhere.

Long overdue, Entertaining Angels will please fans of the band and many fans of the lighter side of Prog