TRANSCENDENTAL CIRCUS

The era with no newbies. The days when pupils successfully jump directly from diapers to a professor's chair, while founding fathers seem to be still in diapers. The vocals better than Gabriel's, the drumming better than Mason's, the guitar playing better than Howe's... but those all were (and still are) easily recognizable. The music reminds sometimes Genesis, sometimes Spock's Beard, or Shingetsu (first part of Fetish), or Glass Hammer (and therefore Yes circa The Yes Album), early Relayer, early No Name... well, the list of references and analogies can be prolonged endlessly. The only question with no answer is where and when does the band's music remind Orpheus Nine? For some tracks (No Illusions, Age Of Rhyme And Reason, Sandcastles) it's not easy to recognize whose music they remind, but surely remind someone else's. Not stolen from anyone but hardly distinctive. What to say about the prog band Orpheus Nine and their debut album? They produce very well crafted and skilled music. They excellently play their instruments and sing. Their arrangements are amazingly complex and diverse. The only thing the band sadly misses is capability to risk - and readiness for risk. They are too flawless. So flawless that they lose originality. Even the two mindblowing epic suites (multi-part self-titled and The Fall Of The House Of Keys) do not change the overall impression. Besides they undoubtedly do have original musical ideas. But for now, it's not quite clear what their message to the world is. Hopefully the band's next album will show.