SHADES OF DAWN

Like so many others, Shades Of Dawn takes their inspiration from the classic British prog rock acts of the early 1970s. As most could guess, the vast majority of this music does not even begin to compare to the legends. After all, back when bands like Yes and Genesis were making their music, the style they were playing was truly progressive and fresh. Now, there are certainly progressive acts out there, but so many do what Shades Of Dawn do, that is, to favour emulation over innovation. Suffice to say, this band does not do it with near the same conviction that their influences, or even some other modern day progressive acts do. Despite the obvious ambition that goes along with the territory of releasing four epics on one album, I find myself generally bored and unimpressed by what Shades Of Dawn have done with 'Graffity's Rainbow'.

This latest album from the band appears to be an attempt at replaying the magic that Yes captured with 'Tales From Topographic Oceans', a four track double album built by four epic suites. While 'Topographic Oceans' was- in my opinion- a work of genius, this falls short of that mark. Instead, 'Graffity's Rainbow' is an overdrawn work that shows glimmers of light here and there, but overall feels like its taking too long to say too little. As far as symphonic prog goes, the tones and textures that we might associate with the modern incarnation of that sound are here. Warm guitars and plenty of keyboards are the order of the day here, with vocals and lyrics about war, fantasy, and some combination of the two. There are a multiplicity of vocalists here, and some parts are much better than others, as far as singing goes. At times, the voice is emotive and soft, and at other times, the German inflections mix with the cheesy lyrics in just the wrong way, and leaves a fairly negative impression on me.

On the other hand, the 'symphonic' element on Shades Of Dawn is quite good, even excellent at times. It seems this band were aiming for a classical influence in their music, and I believe they have found it with their lush keyboard arrangements, particularly in the latter half of the album. While uneventful and even bland by some standards, they build and counterpoint in ways that are indicative of classical music, and it's among the most sincere work you will hear on the album. Barring that, 'Graffity's Rainbow' is a mediocre work from a band whose mission statement in making music is not really one I find myself agreeing with.

Filled with long tracks,''The dawn of time'' will satisfy any fan of Symphonic Rock with some Neo Prog elements.The sound recalls bands as COLLAGE, ANYONE'S DAUGHTER, AMENOPHIS and MARILLION.The guitar work is excellent,slighly distorted, delivering plenty of breaks,melodic solos and dreamy passages.Klein is supported by a talented Cyrill Stoletzky,who's keyboards are everywhere with both aggresive and atmospheric style.The flashy synth soloing,light organ passages and Classical-inspired piano will leave you speechless.The compositions are all in a high level with numerous shifting moods,a grandiose atmosphere and a huge amount of energy.However Klein's vocals are questionable,not actually bad, but definitely accented and with a need for improvement, marking the long instrumental sections as the album's highlights.

This is very good Symphonic Rock with both guitars' and keyboards' explosions and anyone searching for this particular style along with a high level of energy will find ''The dawn of time'' absolutely fascinating.The album still comes strongly recommended for fans of Classic Progressive Rock and Neo Prog...3.5 stars.

The shortest track is basically a decent classically inspired piano solo, "Ulysses Rollercoaster", and it effectively separates the mediocre from the decent material. Apart from the general neo and, by extension, Genesis influence, I also hear Shades of later Eloy, which is not a bad thing in my opinion. The four part instrumental which follows features more concise themes especially on synths in the later stages. "Plenty of Gold" begins with crickets and then becomes a stately slower paced spacey ballad. Even if it does drag a bit in the middle, the changes of pace are a welcome contrast to what came before. Klein's vocals are somewhat higher registered a la Frank Bornemann meets Jon Anderson, but they generally get the job done. "Sometimes" is even better, with an elegant memory first conveyed in wordless vocalizations then idealistic lyrics about the state of the world, featuring some heartfelt harmonies.

Apart from the aforementioned weaknesses typical of much neo, my big problem with the album is that it sounds less interesting each time I hear it, for which I dock a half star. The band has a lot of good ideas but needs to live up to its name by producing more "shades" that reflect the beauty of the dawn light.

This album is dedicated to prime mover Wolfgang Schmidt who died of a heart- attack in January 2000.

A Genesis-Clone? No, not really, but you can hear there Influence a bit too much, at least for my taste. I mean, I like the old Genesis stuff, but somehow I don't get along with this album in the same way.