ANABIS

"Wer Will" is certainly their best, due in no small measure to the 17 minute "Das Zünglein an der Waage", which combines TANGERINE DREAM and GENESIS sensibilities with a dash of CAMEL-styled guitar. By no means a lost classic, it does demonstrate some natural progressive talent. At the other end of the spectrum is the more concise "Der Kritiker" which also channels Mr Latimer. For the rest, we are cursed with a teutonic SUPERTRAMP and FOREIGNER hybrid, and did I mention the nearly incessantly grating vocalizings of "Holger Sann"? Perhaps the lyrics are interesting but on ANYONE DAUGHTER's "Neu Sterne" the melodies and compositions stood by themselves. Sadly, this is not at all the case on "Wer Will".

It's hard to imagine anyone but a German symphonic completist needing "Wer Will". But actually, that would be me, and I have little use for it. Comparisons to ELOY and GENESIS amount to a disservice to those groups and their fans. Still, if after all that, you feel you must acquire one of ANABIS's ultra tepid efforts, this is arguably the best.

Here we have an album that is very hard to rate. To put it simply; I don't like it, but I can't find big flaws in the compositions, recording and professional sound of the band. It's just the band's vision that is totally not original.

Anabis tries to give an eighties approach to the early Genesis sound, and that's about it. The vocalist, although singing in German, tries to have the same voice as Gabriel. The compositions are Genesis like, but one can also hear the modern eighties influences: modern synth sound and a modern clean recording. Some of the lyrics seem to be a bit childish in my opinion, but the copycat style of lead vocalist Holger Sann are the main problem. If they had to copy Genesis so badly, why do is less sophisticated and more poppy? Most of their ideas are quite simple, but they make it sound like it's a bombastic idea of greatness. Having that said; the guitars are still nice, the keys are Ok and the rest of band is up to the task. The vision is just not that good, early Genesis would never have sounded very good in the eigthies...

Conclusion. By no means a bad album, some songs are quite nice, but the non-original approach of the band makes me feel like this is very unimportant for most of our progcollections. Two stars.

If there is one improvement, it is in their ability to write somewhat catchy melodies, which they too often play to death. For instance, the opener "Still on My Mind" shines brightest during the keyboard breaks and dullest during the umpteenth repetitions of the ok chorus. The title part of the title suite has some atmospheric wind instruments but the arrangement doesn't go anywhere, and the final segment is almost an extension of it except with some good lead guitar links to rev up the proceedings a notch. The contrast with the almost oboe-like sound, perhaps the hautbois (?) makes this one of the better tracks. Another interesting tune dominated by such instrumentation is "The Black Virgin", which is reminiscent of some of Camel's "The Snow Goose".

Unfortunately the vocal material, of which there is far too much, is a mash of lame lazy power ballads like "Struggles of Love" and "No Time", with "Stronger than Ever" only marginally better thanks to a fine chorus. The progressive element is minimal and, where present, is pretty much only in instrumental tracks or segments.

In the stadium of progressive rock bands, Anabis definitely sits in the bleachers. While their final release is not theatre that I would walk out on, I wouldn't expect to have to pay full price or sit in a full house for that matter.

The band’s earlier recordings are reported to be of a symphonic nature, German lyrics and lots of flute and interesting keyboard progressions, but this one is unfortunately the last hurrah for the band, and it shows.

The album was released in the late eighties, and the sound is deeply rooted in that period, with shorter compositions that mix light pop keyboards, plodding and repetitive beats that sound suspiciously like drum tracks, and fluffy light English lyrics that lean closer to the Thompson Twins than to the sounds of Genesis or Eloy their earlier recordings supposedly hint at. A track-by-track review isn’t necessary, as there is very little variety here. The monotonous drums and love-gone-wrong lyrics are a major distraction, although from what it’s hard to say, as the rest of the instrumentation isn’t much better. The sound is a combination of post-disco pop, faux symphonic and mostly synthesized keyboards, and the occasional guitar riff. The vocalist has a bit of difficulty staying in tune at times, and more egregious is his inability to keep in synch with the rhythms. This is in no way progressive, symphonic or otherwise. The closest the sound comes to anything resembling artistic expression are the sporadic, slightly-fusion improvisational guitar solos, but these aren’t enough to save a truly dreadful album. There are ten musicians listed in the liner notes, but I can’t for the life of me detect more than about five instruments actually being played, and a couple of those are more likely programmed as opposed to played.

I’m tempted to give this two stars simply as a nod to a pretty decent album cover, but even this is diluted by the fact the album was issued a couple times and one of those releases featured a cover that looks suspiciously like Hall & Oates ‘Rock and Soul, part 1’ release. So one star it is, and a strong recommendation to not bother with this one.

peace

1 - Alles in eines Hauses Leben (6:15)

This catchy and alternating track features a dynamic rhythm-section (inventive drums, powerful bass sound), strong and expressive German vocals (funny lyrics), great guitar soli (from sensitive to fiery and howling). A very convincing starter!

2 - Ich will (5:33)

The intro features spectacular synthesizer runs, then a propulsive rhythm with strong vocals, this man gives every track an extra dimension! Halfway we hear a sensational synthesizer solo and then enthousiastic interplay between the vocals and a fiery electric guitar.

3 - Die Rosa Brille (4:45)

A mellow, bit dreamy atmosphere with soft vocals and twanging guitars. Slowly the climate becomes more bombastic with a sensitive electric guitar solo. This song has pleasant echoes from mid-GENESIS.

4 - Der Kritiker (4:22)

A mid-tempo featuring dynamic and powerful accellarations with great soli on synthesizer and harder-edged guitar.

5 - Genethiker (4:15)

Another dynamic mid-tempo track with strong vocals (cynical philosophical lyrics), a sensational synthesizer solo and a short but exciting guitar-synthesizer duel.

6 - Das Zünglein an der Waage (17:08)

The intro from this final composition features wonderful mellow synthesizers, a bit spacey with fat and spectacular sounds. Then twanging guitars and a cheerful, catchy rhythm with pleasant synthesizer runs, fiery electric guitar licks and again strong, expressive German vocals. The atmosphere sounds dynamic, due to the great rhythm- section and fine shifting moods, from mellow with twanging guitars to bombastic with strong work on guitar and keyboards. This is the most symphonic (mid-GENESIS inspired) track and in my opinion Anabis at their pinnacle.

IF YOU ARE UP TO GERMAN VOCALS, THIS ALBUM IS AN EXCELLENT ADDITION!!