BRASSÉ

The familiar sound of the band is still there, but this time Brasse seems to have lose much of its grandiosity and unique inspiration.The album is split in 17 pieces with its ups and downs with Brasse trying to capture a unique personal approach on the concept , alternating between different moods and atmospheres, always under the Neo Prog umbrella.The result though is an album of inconsistency, with some tracks sounding a bit cheesy or uninspired, sometimes having a too mechanical keyboard sound or uninteresting electronic effects like the horrible sampled flutes.The vocals of the album range from angry performances to sweet deliveries, depending on the track.However Brasse never stopped to be an incredible composer and thus you can still find pieces with bombastic keyboard parts, great guitar hooks and plenty of symphonic grandieur.And like in ''Pawn'' there are melodic symphonic passages mixed with powerful bombastic keyboard parts to satisfy the prog listener, just to make you a bit nostangic over the previous album.

Maybe Brasse's definite Neo Prog approach on a concept like this was not the right choice, but if you skip this fact, this album is still a good effort among the genre's releases, with interesting keyboard, vocal and guitar parts, though a bit flat at moments.Recommended.

"Storm" is a short fast paced instrumental track. "The Eye Of The Storm" features pulsating synths as Bert from LIKE WENDY comes in vocally in a reserved manner. It's kind of spacey too. "Sinful City" has this instrumental intro and reserved vocals arrive when it settles. It builds some and the guitar solos late. "Trickster" is the other track Bert sings on. Atmospheric synths early as reserved vocals join in.The tempo does eventually pick up some. "Fairground Knight" is orchestral to start then the tempo picks up when the vocals arrive.This is better and I like his vocals. It does settle and pick back up again as contrasts continue. Good song.

"Greedmaster" is divided into two short tracks. I'm not a fan of the first part at all but the second section is cool. "A Selection Of Short Love Songs" consists of three songs. First is the less than one minute "Song" which is not cool at all. Yikes ! "Bonny Marlene" is different with the samples and such. "Travellers" is another one of those "What were they thinking ?!" moments. "Storm" is the over 20 minute center-piece. My favourite track by far. Nature sounds to start then piano and a beat both arrive. A calm follows and you can hear the weather report in the background. Another calm and vocals come in.Then it builds and guitar comes in later. An interesting suite. "In My Blood" is orchestral flavoured with piano as reserved vocals join in.

Barely 3 stars despite some highlights.

Fans of IQ, Galleon, Marillion, et al, should find this an enjoyable listen.

Then we'd probably get another "Turbulence" ;) Yes, this band is very much influenced by above-mentioned ones, and the CD itself is more Neo in the beginning (with nice songs like "Sinful City" and "Trickster") ,then Neo/Space-rock in the middle (with selection of short and weird - almost experimental - pieces like "Do you sleep at Night?" and "Bonny Marlene") and finally Space-rock in the end (closing 20-minute long epic "Strom", which is actually non-worthy of its length - could have been much shorter). Nice record despite the low-budget quality and overall absence of new ideas (good musicianship though). Not recommended (only for fans of Spacy Neo) and 2.5 stars

The album opens with "Love & Hate", a tune with a pulsating, disjointed beat, ARENA style; unfortunately, however, it soon degenerates into a very average ballad. The ominous "Vigil" follows where BRASSÉ steps in with his 'satanic' vocals, a bit like STEVE HACKETT's on "The Devil Is an Englishman". Then comes "Follow Me Down" with some catchy, almost disco beat, and the instrumental "Inferno" which would would fit in perfectly onto an AYREON album. This is where the CD starts to get interesting. "Dante - The Pit" is a throbbing piece with a crisp, prominent drum play. 'Paolo and Francesca" is a simple but effective ballad with an interesting exchange of male and female vocals. "Sharks & Herrings" and "Betrayal" are both a little weird (imagine yourself finger-popping on some machine-gun drumming - hard to explain, really). "Lucifer" is a hellish vocal piece with an African beat and some female wailing in the background (another weird one!); the voice is faintly reminiscent of Clare Torry on PINK FLOYD's "Dark Side of the Moon". The track "Beatrice" reminds me a lot of the FLOYD's "Comfortably Numb". Finally, the album closes with a short but nostalgic instrumental with a strong 'CAMEL' feel to it. This is far from a masterpiece and I would gladly have welcomed a fuller production; nevertheless, it's worth seeking out because it truly stands on its own.