GERARD

From the opening self-titled number things are getting really serious.Toshio Egawa is in an absolute orgasm, performing an over-10-min. powerful Symphonic Rock suite with angualr synthesizers, bombastic Hammond organ and loads of Mellotron in a KING CRIMSON vein around the middle.The remaing three out of five tracks follow the same if not heavier lines.Very dense, keyboard-based Symphonic/Hard Rock with tons of virtuosic synth moves, dynamic pyrotechnics and a huge amount of tehnique in a bit abstract but very enegetic arrangements.''Siren in the Mysterious Sea'' is a different story.Based on sampled flutes, Mellotron and harsichord, this instrumental piece is closer to New Age/Symphonic Rock in a much needed interruption between the heavier ideas of Egawa.The closing ''Freedom'' is again on the softer side.It sounds like an AOR ballad with Suchy's vocal in the forefront with a more aggressive section clodsing it in a synth-drenched enviroment.

Mostly instrumental and tremendously bombastic Symphonic Rock is the perfect style for Gerard and the band's leader Toshio Egawa knew this better than anyone else.Good album, maybe some more melodies could be included.Nevertheless, recommended.

The ruins of a glass fortress from 2000 is another worthy release from this japanese band. This time, I mean from previous 2 albums they optain for a distinct direction towards Triumvirat, UK and even Rick Wakeman influences here and there. The influences from the bands mentioned above are more evident here in contrast with early works, because the head of the band Toshio Egawa take out from the arrangements the guitar, no trace of this instrument here, and because of that the passages are keyboard driven prog. Not bad, really, but is not fantastic either, hardly original album and little flat in some parts, but the skills and talent of Egawa make from this album a real pleasent ride, not to mention that the rhythmic section is quite great and solid. Also in some moments I trace some fusion elements specilly in bass/drums category, where the instruments are complex and complicated, I like the bass lines very much. The opening track Labyrinth and Fall Into A Doze are the best from here, instrumental with complex moves, twist lots of layers, speedy keyboards and some dark atmosphere overall, but in the end really good I might say. All album is instrumental minus two pieces where features Jean-Luc "F. Nazaki", and to my opinion his voice is horrible at best, so I will not count this bad section from my rating system. So, even the arrangements and overall sound is more modern then let's say on Empty lie, empty dream from their early works, I prefer that 1985 album face this The ruins, because of the guitar who gives a more melodic , dynamic and overall better atmopshere to my ears. 3 stars rounded to 3.5 , excellent cover art, like on almost all Gerard albums, that romantic aproach very much in vein with the music offered. Good band, I like what I've heared so far from their catalogue, so for sure I will buy more of their albums.

Gerard were one of the leading progressive rock bands from the '80 in Japan together with Novela, Fromage, Pale Acute Moon, Outer Limits or Mugen. They offer a quite good symphonic prog very much in vein of UK or a harder version of Genesis (Trick of the tail era) but with their own twist and with that particular japanese flavour , musicaly speaking that many bands from '80 from this country had. I review so far two of their albums and I liked what I've heared so I've decided to check two more from their catalogue, one of them is Empty lie, empty dream, the second release from 1985. This is enjoyble to me for sure, is to low rated for such music, really. Symphonic prog well played and well performed. The album is mainly instrumental and the keyboards and guitar are great. In their first phase they sounded not very much a la ELP like their later releases, because of the guitar arrangements, this instrument being left aside from Pendulum onwards. So, , forte pieces are the opening instrumental The acts of the Apostles , really awesome pieces where the talent of Toshio Egawa on keyboards and of Fujimura on guitar is obvious. In that darker days of prog mid 80s only japanese school of prog counted on market and the british neo prog who just exploded in Europe around that time, and of course do not forget Rush, the rest of the world were in shadow and the rest of the movement in aderground for sure. So, this release keeps the flag as high as possible for that period, no weak moment but in same time nothing is close to masterpieces status, still enjoyble and good from start to finish.

The album contains a couple of reworked Gerard tunes from the previous albums, ''Empty Lie, Empty Dream'' and ''Orpheus'', in which Egawa kept more or less the arrangements, making them far more bombastic and with a clearer production, while Suchy's slightly AOR-ish voice present a non-accented version of the tracks.The rest of the (new) tracks follow more or less the same typical vein of Gerard.Powerful, edgy and muscular Symphonic Hard Rock with strong ELP influences.Egawa's work remain a work for seminars.Bombastic synth flights, massive organ jams, incredible solos and light piano parts show a musician, who's talent was enough to lead alone a whole project.Both Hasegawa and Goto had a strong metal background and thus the rhythm section sounds as dynamic as ever.Suchy's voice is good and fits the style of Gerard, though his voice has sometimes a cheesy tone.However his vocal lines remain actually limited, it is the music who speaks in ''The pendulum'', and this is really nice with tons of breaks and shifting moods.

''The pendulum'' is a keyboard-fan's paradise.Passionate Symphonic Rock with a heavier edge and incredible work on keyboards by Egawa.Nostalgic followers of the 70's may find the album too modern and flashy for their likes, still this one comes easily recommended...3.5 stars.

Check the front cover to realize how egocentric Egawa was by the time,even giving himself the name ''Geraro'' for the photo-shoot!Musically the album sounds like a mix of the old'n'good Gerard and the newer Hard Rock approach.Tracks like ''Into the dark'', ''Evidence of true love'' and ''Trio'' are absolutely fascinating and bombastic Symphonic Rock arrangements with Egawa's flashy synths on the forefront, sudden breaks, grandiose solos, dramatic atmospheres and excellent bass work.''For piano'', ''The Momorable Melody of the Song'' and the eponymous track are all piano-led compositions with some programmed instrumentation added,which are somewhat spoiled either from the cheap production or the cheesy vocals, with the exception of the last part of ''Save Knight by the Night '', which offers a grandiose Symphonic/Electronic atmosphere.The dull ''Don't Leave Me Now'' is what we all turn our backs on Gerard for: a straight Hard/Glam Rock number for a track with syrup lyrics and funny vocals to say the least.

Reasonable enough, the departure of Fujimura left Egawa alone to lead the Gerard crew and thus his new album is dominated by his work on piano and synthesizers. Despite his egoistic approach Egawa managed to compose some material slightly better than the previous Gerard release with the most symphonic tracks being a great example of his talent.Recommended, especially to all fans of keyboard-driven prog.

On this album it seems that Egawa was influenced by his time with Earthshaker,so the sound is closer to pompous Hard Rock than Symphonic Progressive Rock.Of course there are plenty of symphonic tendencies,complicated breaks and grandiose passages and Egawa's work has a lot of similarities with the previous albums at moments.But the guitars have now a more metallic edge,the compositions are based on hard rockin' groovy rhytms,much of the keyboard work has this cheap 80's sound and the band has lost also much of its way to the epic atmospheres of the past.Another huge problems are now the vocals,especially when Fujimura tries to sing in English.While in ''Empty Lie, Empty Dream'' and ''Geard'' they were somewhat hidden under the instrumental stuff,this time they play a major role and that is a losing point,as Fujimura has one of the most cheesy and atonal voices to be heard around the prog league,the two ballads of the album are actually more funny than inetersting.Significant exceptions are the fantastic eponymous opener,which comes in a bombastic Symphonic Rock style,and the decent complex instrumental ''My Eyes to the Panic''.

The new Gerard era hasn't begun in the best way.The band with a new line-up tries to find the right steps to become solid and consistent again,but hard rockin' tunes is not the solution by any means.''Irony of fate'' contains some good moments and it might be a good album to complete your Gerard collection,but it definitely not the place to start...2.5 stars.

This new release of 2010 reminded me about this band, and I was curious how do they sound now? Album's opener " Ring of Eternity " was a real surprise for me - instrumental quite complex and melodic composition full of energy, but well balanced.It reminded me "Birds And Buildings" debut album's opener, and I believe it's a great compliment!

Unhappily, from the very next song I was disappointed a lot: bombastic keyboards maniac Toshio Egawa hardly changed his point of view on his instrument use and importance in band's sound. And even worst - this time main album's sound is AOR, melodic straight-ahead energetic compositions with overbalanced accent on synth sound. Easiest way to imagine how does the band sound is just to remember latest Rainbow albums, where they turned more to American market.

Keyboards' sound is very unpleasant, too "synthetic" , same is with vocals. Somewhere in the end of album compositions turned a bit to later Yes synth-pop influence zone, but in combination with pseudo-dramatic vocals and very simplistic compositions it didn't help.

Album in all sounds as artificial parody-release on some AOR or even symphonic pop-metal bands. Possibly it was better just to stay with my quite good memories from Gerard albums from late 90s-early 00'.

What you will discover while listening to this "Pandora's Box" is the usual suspect from the band?

Achieved music, skilled musicians: but what about the song writing or about moving musical parts?

These are alien to my ears. Fortunately, there are a few seconds of nice mellotron available during the long opening and title track.

But that might not be enough, right?

The first time I have rated this album, the score was pretty high (some three years ago: 2007). I guess that I have "grown" up in the meantime and that after having listened to a couple of thousand albums, this changed my mind about this "box".

Even if not great, I would be unfair to tell you that vocals are better under this release (but it was not difficult to tell the truth). As usual, ELP fans might be enthusiast about such a release. Under the same circumstances, I do prefer a band like "Ars Nova" who is playing in the same department but with more skills.

Nonetheless, this is a good album if you are ready to listen to some stuff that you have already listened to. For about a hundred times in my case. Still, there a wonderful moment of music available: the splendid and instrumental "Siren in the Mysterious Sea". Fully emotional: it is a superb musical part which is definitively raising the score of this album.

This is really the only track that "diverges" from the rest which is just average IMHHO. Thanks to "Siren", I rate this album with three stars. Gorgeous keyboards: yes. But, what else?