SYMFINITY

I listened to this blind, and came up with, on the pleasant side, Men at Work meet Pavlov's Dog. If I wanted to be really nasty (which I don't) Spandy Bollox meets Jethro Tull.

You see Pavlov's Dog, or rather David Surcamp were an acquired taste. I acquired it from the off way back in the 70's, but can understand why some people can't stand Surcamp's emotional warbling.

The vocalist here, who is unfortunately, as I understand it, the prime mover behind this band, is nothing like David Surcamp. I'm merely using Pavlov's Dog as a comparison. For we have here all sorts going on. We have synths, flute runs, guitars and an orchestral feel that put me in mind of the aforementioned band. There is certainly a retro feel here (as they call old skool 70's & 80's prog these days) as they progress through a number of orchestrated rock songs with progressive tendancies, hence the reason they exist in here, I suppose.

The point is though, and I've already alluded to this, is the vocalist. He ruins this album. The music is solid enough and even the lyrics, despite being a wee bit on the corny side, are excellent. Old buffers like me are sure to spot all sorts of influences here that's for sure. But can you see past the dreadful singing ? That's the problem. Seann Branchfield, I'm afraid you can't sing my lad. You are tuneless, off-key and sound like a very bad David Byron on his binge day without the power that he demonstrated in his post Uriah output.

However if your vocals can improve, well fine, if you haven't already put off half the audience. But failing that get a new vocalist quickly. You might want to consider a female songstress over the top of what is, well crafted symphonic music.

I am now going to apologise to the band for my harsh comments, but there's no getting away from reality and now, having seen how young the band are (or were) I can see what they are trying to achieve here. It certainly fills a gap in progressive music somewhere between folk and symphonic and I have not heard anything like this in recent years amongst the seemingly bottomless pit of power metal that seems to assault me from all sides. Different, yes, original, well yes, but I suspect this might slip under the radar of the less tolerant old farts like me.