CROSSING THE DESERT

IRIS released this one album back in 1996, more or less an all instrumental Neo-prog album. I was attracted to the cover art but really it was hearing that MARILLION's rhythm section was part of this trio that made this an easy decision at the time. So we get Trewavas and Mosley doing their thing but this is the project of multi-instrumentalist Sylvain Gouvernaire who composed the music and plays a variety of keyboards along with the guitar. He was part of that all-star lineup on that CASINO record that was released in 1992 several years earlier so he's been around some talent.

Quite a bit of synths on here but the guitar dominates overall. A very pleasant album where no track really stands out to me. I do wish the drums and bass were more upfront although Trewavas does come to the fore the odd time. Nothing is memorable, but it's quite pleasant and enjoyable. Considering the talent involved I was expecting more but this is the perfect 3 star record.