EARTHBOUND

Rocket Scientists first efford is an interesting album, but it seems they still did no know exactly what they wanted to do or how to do. The basic elements are all here: excellent musicanship, fair use of analog keyboards, tasteful arrangements, great melodic sense. Compared to latter day RS records, the songs on Earthbound are shorter, more accessible and there are less solos. It looked like the band was still shy to experiment more and show off the excellency of their talents. The music itself is quite pleasant and from the start Erik Norlander proves he is one of the best keyboardists of the new generation. His style derives much from Rick Wakeman´s. Mark McCrite is a fine singer and guitarrist. Some songs are better than the others, but none is bad. Highlights are Down Trodden, Avalon and Carry Me Home. Their cover of Pink Floyd´s Welcome To The Machine shows their superb skills and give a good sign of better things to come.

A very good album, solid 3 stars, but far from their best, more hard edeged symphonic works. Earthbound is recommended to the ones who like melodic prog with some AOR touches here and there. It actually gets better with each spin.