PICTURE

Despite the fact that all the band members have enjoyed success with other bands, Kino appear to be more of a side project than a supergroup. The main interest in the band for me is the presence of Arena guitarist John Mitchell, whose guitar work is usually excellent.

Mitchell certainly takes a dominant role in Kino (the band were initially going to call themselves Cinema, but decided to use the equivalent word in German instead), being lead vocalist and frontman. As a result, Kino' sound more reminiscent of Mitchell's other side project, The Urbane than they do of Arena. It's hard to tell from the credits who the main songwriters are, as all the songs are credited to the band collectively, but I would guess that here too, Mitchell's influence was strong. In the rather strange world of modern day recording, the band did not actually play together on many of the recordings, the various parts being laid down separately by each member. Indeed, they had hardly met at all, and certainly did not play together as a unit prior to the album's release!

The albums opens with a nine minute piece "Loser's day in paradise", which is by far the most progressive track on the album. It moves between neo-prog and some very indie like sounds, always driven on by Mitchell's guitar. There are some nice touches such as the brief soft female vocal and the "Moviedrome" (Arena) type ending.

It soon becomes clear as the album unfolds, that the band have put their best number upfront. The remaining tracks are consistently good, but the prog influences are less, with the music taking on a more predicable nature thereafter. "Holding on" towards the end of the album does offer something more progressive, with some excellent organ work, and a variety of moods.

Many of the other tracks are reminiscent of melodic power rock of Asia, especially in their earlier days. "Leaving a light on", "Letting go", and "perfect tense" are all potential singles (although not necessarily hit singles). "Swimming in women" has a chorus which sounds like something from an old Toyah (AKA Mrs Fripp) album!

As a whole, the album has plenty of different moods and styles. The longer tracks work best, with the shorter songs being generally too light weight to have any lasting appeal. A credible first album though.

A special edition version of the album is available which includes a second disk, in DVD format, containing live performances of the first four tracks on the album. As the sleeve notes confirm, the band had not been together long before they took to the Rockpalast stage. During the performances, they are clearly nervous and a little unsure of themselves, but the results are solid, if understandably unadventurous.

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