MARS HOLLOW

I heard a lot recently about this band, so I was eventually very curious about it. But I must say I am not really enthusiastic about their debut, self titled CD. Don´t get me wrong, the group is obviously very good and this is only their first, so I guess they can go very far. Their musicanship is impeccable, with a very solid instrumental parts: nice 70´s sounding keyboards, excellent guitar lines and a versatile and creative rhythm section. It is obvious that they were influenced by those classic prog bands (Rush and Kansas are the strongest sources, but there is also some Yes and even Gentle Giant bits too).

The down side are the high pitched vocals and the lyrics. John Baker is a skillful guitar player, but when he sings he tries too hard to sound like Geddy Lee, and it is very annoying most of the time (like Jon Anderson of Yes, Lee is one and only). Besides, the group does not have a Neil Peart to write real good lyrics. Still the album flows pleasantly and clearly show that these musicians have the right influences and the songwriting skills to come up with some surprising stuff in the near future. The production is top notch and there are no real highlights, nor fillers. You can enjoy the album from start to finish.

If you like melodic american prog you should not miss this one. Mars Hollow is very promising. I woud love to give them a four star rating if there were better vocals and some strong lyrics to match their powerful sound. As it is, 3,5 stars.