THE VISION PIT

First clouds within the Landmarq family appeared in 1993.Damian Wilson was proposed the position of singer for the Luxembourg-based act La Salle and left the band, who replaced him with Ian Gould after several auditions.Gould spent a year with Landmarq, participating in numerous live shows with his powerful voice, but he also quit in 1995 because of musical differences and went on to join Medicine Man.In the meantime the collaboration between Wilson and La Salle did not go well and he rejoined Landmarq for the recordings of the third studio album ''The vision pit''.The album was recorded at the Thin Ice Studios in Maidenhead in the early summer of 95' with Clive Nolan helping Landmarq in orchestrations, while additional engineering and mixing was served by Karl Groom.''The vision pit'', released in 1995, was the last album of the band for the SI label.

Too many things went on between the previous and the new album, but the inspiration was still there for a group that slowly became a stable value of the Neo Prog scene, producing bombastic and sharp Progressive Rock with grandiose orchestrations, angular guitar riffs and of course monumental vocals by Damian Wilson.While the music is once more accesible, heavy and quite melodic, this is another case of a Landmarq album that requires time to be appreciated.Energetic music with excellent guitar solos, great breaks between mascular grooves and lyrical material, poetic lyrics and edgy synthesizers, often with a symphonic edge.The songwriting is pretty great with memorable melodies, impressive choruses and a variety of atmospheres, including lots of 80's-styled Prog keyboard stylings, straightforward rockin' moments and some decent room for pompous instrumental work.Neo Prog legends ARENA must have listened to Landmarq tons of times, as the style is pretty similar.Powerful piano lines, orchestral overtones with the sign of Clive Nolan and Heavy Rock pounds are also in the menu, combined perfectly in the longer tracks of the album like the excellent ''Infinity parade'' or the punchy ''Bed of nails''.

At this point Landmarq seemed like a group ready to rule the Prog world.While their music was not the most original around, the solid and consistent songwriting along with amounts of energy included in their third album were enough to satisfy the prog fans.Highly recommended...3.5 stars.