ALSO EDEN

I am not a Neo-Prog fan at all. I find the Neo-Prog albums who are leaning towards AOR pretty difficult to deal with. You see, Also Eden is doing everything right here. The vocals and the musicianship is superb. It is easy to understand why this band has built up a large following on the basis of their albums and in particular; their live performances. And I would also put Also Eden in my own "a thorough good band worth following" database. The five songs on About Time also average ten minutes. One song is even thirteen minutes long. The instruments is keyboards, drums, vocals, bass and guitars. Each instrument is given plenty of space to shine on their own. But.........

This review boils down to my personal preferences. The music is more leaning towards AOR than symphonic prog. I don't like AOR. Although the band is doing everything right, I don't find the songs particular great. They are frankly anonymous where they weave around the Marillion landscape. All songs sporadic comes up with great melody lines. There is nothing wrong with any of these songs or this album at all. But this is not a great album in my ears and my personal preferences leans towards other music styles than the one Also Eden do here. But this is still a good album.

3 stars

Even though on melody aspect this album is lacking, the other aspects of musical composition, in my opinion, score average - nothing that's really excellent. there are changes of style throughout the album and some segments sound really good especially in its effort to create ambient. From track 2 "For Bumble" (13:21) the band tries to give musical break with silent segment demonstrating acoustic guitar to accompany vocal. The music flow in relatively slow manner. Harmonies created from all instruments are considered quite good. "The Enemy Within" (12:13) starts with short piano work and the music flows in a relatively slow mode.

Overall, this is an album suitable for neo-prog fans. It's a good one to have.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

The instrumental breaks with some fine guitar and keyboards interplays are the highlights. I also liked the emotional and sincere vocals, Huw does not have a particular strong voice but he very convincing and poignant in his delivering.The lyrics are good and certainly the CD has no fillers. The album flows very evenly. But the true gems are the last two tracks, A Widows Eyes and Photographs, both great epics where the band uses their full potential both as songwriters and players. I liked their balance between the simple and the elaborated.

In the end I found Kind Of You To Ask to be a nice surprise and Also Eden a truly promising band. If they keep working on their strong points they can be very big. My rating is somewhere between 3,5 to 4 stars that I´ll round up to full four because their tasteful and rich sound lift up my spirits today.

Star is a long track with a strange soft/silent like start (I even thought my boxes were not ok) for the first two minutes but after this it turns to a normal song. This opener gives a good idea about the standard of this album that treats of loneliness. The vocals and lyrics are very important on this album. Accessible and yet complex is what I want to call the most of this album and certainly also this first track. Good song. 3,75*

Artificial Light goes on the same way more or less though it's a track of only half the length as the opener. It results in less attention for the instrumental bits and pieces on this one. 3,5*.

Skimming Stones is a very good example of the significant lyrics. This is a very sensitive song and impresses in this way. Usually not what I'm personally looking for in music but still this one moves me in a way. 3,75*.

Outside In is a longer track once again and this is the heaviest track on the album at least in the first half of the song with pretty heavy guitarplay. Halfway down the piano takes over in a beautiful way to introduce the more quiet second half of the mini-epic. Another very good song. 3,75*.

Together Alone is the shortest and least track of this album with again a strong focus on meaningful lyrics. Still a pretty good track, 3,25*.

6th track is the very highlight called A Widow's Eyes. Besides the also on this one important lyrics this track offers quite a lot for the more instrumental minded listeners like me. Especially in the second half of the song this becomes obvious. Excellent song this. 4,25*.

Photographs is a very good closing track of this average length album (1 hour). It summarizes the average standard of this album just like in the opening track. So if you want to check out this one in the store or wherever, first and last track suffice to make up your mind. 3,75*.

And the given score for most of the tracks (3,75*) is actually what this album is worth for me. Therefore 4 stars is the only fair outcome I can think of. It's hard to compare this band with other bands. They remind me somewhat of Abel Ganz and Millenium but those are not really very famous neobands. If you want a big name it's a bit problematic, Just Hogarth era Marillion is a slight similarity but no more.

''About time'' was privately released in 2006 and it is a very good example of modern progressive/art rock with strong vintage references.Five songs,mostly lengthy, compositions present a band with great talent,who like to care of every detail on their songs.''About time'' can be very lyrical and melodic,but also complicated and challenging at the same time.The vocals of Lloyd-Jones are definitely awesome with a deep expression and a bright color,surrounded by the melodic guitars of Rogers and the lightning synthesizers of Hodson.Influences come from old-GENESIS (listen to the delicate acoustic guitars and the fine moog solos),SPOCK'S BEARD and of course bands of 80's UK prog,mainly MARILLION (lots of atmospheric keys around),PALLAS (at the more dynamic moments) and PENDRAGON (combining melodic guitars with background synths),but the closest comparison would propably be STRANGEFISH.A great debut for this band,which certainly deserves your attention.Recommended to fans of progressive rock in general,who want to explore a fresh-sounding band with talent...3.5 stars is my exact rating for this pleasant work.

Neo prog.is the more easy listening symp.modern prog. with touches of electronic pop prog.

This band interprets symphonic prog.because is a mix of melodic prog with art rock.

In this state of things i must say AE is an expression of the resurrection of the symphonic prog.based in the traditional bands of this style of prog as Genesis,Yes and early King Crimson.

Vocals(which are beautiful) are very similar to Alan Reed,s of Pallas.

I think this is a perfect mix between Genesis,IQ and Pallas but with their original touch.

Excellent melodies, instrumental arrangements and instrumental interpretations.

5 stars