MOONTOWER

This album rules and is one of my favourites ever! This is a very niche album, I've never heard anything quite like it. The persistent synth dominates the overall sound overtop heavy distorted guitars and growled vocals. Despite this I find Moontower to be a very accessible album for the prog fan who doesn't tend to enjoy metal, since the songs remind me more of IQ or the first two Marillion albums than anything in the metal world. Every instrument was played by Dan Swano who also produced the album, which is probably why this is a solo album and not under a new band name like Swano is oft to do. Within the first 10 seconds of "Sun of Night" you will know if this is something you'll love or not, I knew I was hooked just by the tone of the synth used, I just love that sound. Each of the 8 tracks have a pretty similar sound to them, but highlights are "Add Reality" which is sort of the most prog track, and "Encounterparts" which does nothing to hide the Rush influence right down to the title. "Creating Illusions" has a great part in the middle where it sounds like the song is ending, before it comes firing right back at you. I found this album about 14 years ago and always come back to it, I recommend it to any fans of 80s-sounding music looking for something a little different