LYNX

Born in the city of Ljusdal in 1985,Swedish proggers GALLEON started their career as ''Aragon'' under the forces of Micke Värn (guitar,keys), Göran Fors (bass, vocals,keys) and Dan Fors (drums).At the time of the recordings of their first demo back in 1989,they were forced to abandon the name ''Aragon'' and so GALLEON came to life.The band was helped by producer and keyboardist Ulf Pettersson for the creation of their debut,officially released in 1992 and entitled ''Lynx''.

STYLE: Seven years of existence were enough for the band to develop their sound and produce a great debut under the Neo Progressive label.The album is quite long (over 60 minutes+a bonus track for its japanese edition) and,while nothing in here is extraordinary or superb,all tracks are quite memorable with lots of synthesizer flights,remarkable and varied guitar work,nice songwriting and very decent vocals.Symphonic touches are also present through some fantastic keyboard parts and please notice the more than obvious ALEX LIFESON-like guitar work of Micke Värn blended with some NICK BARRET influence.Very pleasant atmosphere overall.

INFLUENCES/SOUNDS LIKE: An equal mix of energetic progressive rock in the style of RUSH with the more symphonic side of PENDRAGON is the thing here.UK neo-proggers IQ and JADIS also come to mind.

PLUS: Excellent song-writing,especially for a debut,very catchy at moments but always maintaining the quality of the progressive rock music.Long tracks,as most of them are over 6 to 7 minutes,but GALLEON manage to keep the listener's attention with the fine musicianship.Good mix of powerful prog with atmospheric synths and the easy way of Neo Progressive.Nothing in this album allows you to believe the band is a trio.

MINUS: As already said,every single track is very good but none of them comes up as a total masterpiece of music.The RUSH influence is a bit disturbing,if Alex Lifeson was really responsible for the guitars.Vocals are decent but not something trully fascinating.Not that ofriginal music.

WILL APPEAL TO: Fans of Neo Progressive rock's classic era (MARILLION, IQ, PENDRAGON),as well as RUSH followers and maybe symphoheads.

CONCLUSION/RATING: Not a historical release by any means,but ''Lynx'' deserves to be listened by more people,for it is a nice album with great music from the first to the last minute.3.5 stars and recommended.