IN THE LAND OF DREAMS

It comes as absolutely no surprise to me that Silver Key began as a Marillion/Fish tribute act, because the style of progressive rock they play here is something I might be tempted to call retro-neo-prog. First there was good old classic-era prog, then there was neo-prog which used 80s production techniques and instrumentation to refresh the classic-era sound, then there was retro-prog which deliberately used vintage instruments (and, in some cases, recording techniques) to recapture the classic sound directly, and now we've got retro-neo-prog bands who seem to be deliberately trying to sound like they live in the 1980s.

That's not a slam, mind - just as some retro-prog acts can give the originals a run for their money, so can some retro-neo acts make enjoyable contributions to the genre. Like Credo's Rhetoric, Silver Key's In the Land of Dreams applies the benefit of hindsight to the Marquee-era neo-prog sound, avoiding creative cul-de-sacs and taking things in their own direction. As the band name, album title and track list imply, here and there the band take inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft's horror-fantasy stories of the Dreamlands, but by and large (aside from the acoustic and slightly overlong Dim Carcosa) this doesn't really have much impact on the music, which draws on the likes of early IQ, Marillion and Pendragon and recent Credo - and, perhaps most notably, Jadis, whose sunny tones can be detected on the opening In the Land of Dreams. Yuri Abietta deserves props for his clear and fluent vocals and the band as a whole do a good job, though if you don't have at least some affection for the early neo-prog sound the album's not likely to make you a convert, and if you do it will likely not offer much new.