XIII

This is the first attempt from Finnish trio Nurkostam. A sort of minialbum or EP running at about half an hour. The album to me, seems to be in 3 main parts, starting out with a power prog. Instrumental, a good track, very close to what KC might have done live, sometime in the mid. 70's. From here it moves into 2 tracks, in a slower tempo, this part of the album, does not work particular well on me, the tracks is for the most part, in what could be considered "mainstream" format, but that in a very 70's sense, so still both quite psychedelic and prog. ; tracks in a format similar to what Pink Floyd did in early 70's, but its very hard to live up to PF standard. From here the album takes another turn, the remaining tracks are to me, the highlight of the album, and they work very well together. This part starts very Atmospheric, moving into a songs comparable to Van Der Graf or early Genesis. This last part, of "classical" prog, is split in 3 tracks, running a total of all most 18 minutes. Good Stuff !! The thing I am missing the most, is a guest saxophone/violin here and there, that could lift everything to a new standart.

A rating on an independent release like this one is very hard to do. No doubt If this was a release from a well known 70's supergroup it would have to go with a 2 star rating, due to the fact that the production is not perfect, and that there are moments here and there that lack to be of real pro standart.

But I think its fair to consider that this is a semipro band, with no record deal, and no producer to ad a few string arrangements, and some "guest" here and there. The band got some good stuff going for them, hope they improve and evolve in the future.