DRIFT

From the symphonic opening of the album to the Rush-meets-Killing Joke antics of Overlook, this is a band that, indeed, drift. Not letting themselves get tied down to any specific stylistic expression or particular sound. An approach which I applaud. And these guys are pretty decent composers as well, if not for one particular aspect of their performance this is a disc that would have hit my top 40 list of 2009.

While the music is sophisticated and rather refined, the vocals appear to be the main drawback for this band. Especially in the symphonic and mellow numbers the lead vocals grate - reminding me a bit of Kurt Cobain with perhaps a few Steve Hogarth dimensions added to it's expression. With a general tendency to be slightly out of tune, and somewhat naivistic in performance.

If you aren't very particular about vocals this is a fine album to add to your collection, especially if a diverse collection of art and symphonic rock songs sounds like a good thing to you.