ICE

Ice is a dutch neo prog band with only one album in thier pockets named The saga from 2005. Ice is formed by members (who are veterans in this field) of another dutch band from late '90's Maryson who was disbanded after only two albums. Also the bass player Henny van Mourik besides Maryson he was a member of Cirkel (band from Holland who release a single album in 1983, The first goodbye). I was quite impressed by this album, the music is very fluent, very catchy in places, from mellow pieces to more up tempo, all is done very good and play from pleasure. All the musicians are great specially the keyboard player Ardie Westdijk , who done an excellent work here, he is also the producer of the album and the main song writter. The compositions are very varied with good vocals, wonderful guitarwork and a solid musicianship. All pieces stands as good, specialy the first three are excellent, opening track Strangelight, is a piece in good tradion neo prog , next the mellow and very smooth Farewell and the best piece from here in my opinion the instrumental masterpiece The Trail, one of the best instrumental pieces I ever heard from a neo prog band, superb musicianship, excellent guitar work and unmatch prestation of Ardie Westdijk on keys, wonderful piece and No Choice - the most uptempo track from here with a lots of great interplay between guitar and keys, great work made by the bass player Henny van Mourik, another goody that shows Ice was a promissing band in this genre. The saga deserve for sure 3 stars, maybe rounded up to 3.5 , but because this rate doesn't exist I remain to 3, a solid album, who needs a wider recognition because worth it. Album available on Musea records.

When I first saw this CD on the music store shelf I thought they were some power metal band from Germany. The cover and the title were like those kind of bands that were all over the place in the late 90´s. So I was quite surpised when I was told they were in fact a prog outfit from Holand, based around the membrs of the band Maryson. I got curious enough to hear (and eventually purchase) the record. And it was quite different from their former group, no doubt.

Ice plays a kind of melodic prog metal with strong AOR tendencies (more prog than metal, though), and some symphonic bits here and there. It takes some time to digest this massive epic and the singer may not be evryone´s cup of tea. Of course all the musicians are very good and the production is excellent (a bit too polished maybe). There are some great instrumental passages, with very well placed guitars and keyboards lines. I can´t point out no highlights nor real lows. I think Ice is very promising and I hope they develop their sound even more.

Quite strong debut. If you´re into melodic prog then The Saga is a good pick.

Rating: something between 3 and 3,5 stars.

An hour of stimulating symph-prog, not overtly complex material but delivered with aplomb, gusto and genuine pleasure. I was expecting something in the Maryson vein as all musicians save the keyboard player are from that Dutch band. But this one sort of crept up on me unaware and proceeded to snatch my interest and then, my admiration. This is top- extended pop-prog tunes that some may call neo but done with such expertise, anyone can get into this. Guitarist Van Hoogdalen contributes his usual stellar musicianship , the bass and drums keep the package together with plenty of assorted little touches that keep everything always interesting, a little sitar here ,a lot of fiery sax there. Really charming stuff. The programme starts off a tad predictably but as each new song appears , the overall mood improves immeasurably. By the time you get to the extraordinarily hummable "Not Only Love", which sticks to melobraincells like crazy glue, the ride to the end is sheer pleasure. Lots of 7 minute mini-epics here that will please some , delight others and disappoint no progger. Lots of good sympho-prog from Holland lately (Nice Beaver, Odyssice, Mangrove, Novox, Flamborough Head, Like Wendy, Trion, Lady Lake and Knight Area), providing solid releases with consistently better than usual vocals , with something for everyone. Ice seems like a one shot deal but it has the mettle to stand the test of time. 4 frozen cubes

The new Dutch progrock formation Ice is an offshoot from Dutch band Maryson, the brainchild of writer/keyboardist Wim Stolk. He is not present on this CD, the keyboards are by Ardie Westdijk who once played with his brother in Dutch progrock band Differences in The Eighties.

So here we have some experienced prog musicians, this is obvious on The Saga because the 10 compositions sound very professional and pleasant (melodic, harmonic, tasteful and varied): from dreamy to bombastic up-tempo (with echoes from Pendragon) in the opener Starlight, a lush symphonic rock sound delivering howling electric guitar in The Trail, dreamy and compelling featuring a fiery saxophone solo in Not Only Love, from slow to up-tempo with pleasant keyboard work (including a sitar sound) and a wonderful guitar solo in The River and bombastic with Floydian guitar and flashy synthesizer runs in Setback. The final long track This Battle delivers a splendid final part: first acoustic rhythm guitar and vocals with strong hints from early Uriah Heep, then exciting symphonic rock with great soli on guitar, saxophone and keyboards. The vocals on this CD are excellent: Hein v/d Broek delivers emotion and variety and succeeds to give the songs an extra dimension with his singing.

Dutch band Ice has made a strong debut-CD, at some moments a bit polished but in general very tasteful and entertaining with the strong guitar play and tasteful colouring by the keyboards as the main assets.

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