NO MAN'S LAND

Victor Peraino's Kingdom Come evolved out of the dissolution of the legendary Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come in 1974.Peraino was the keyboard player in the album and upon returning to his homeland in Detroit, USA he somehow kept the rights to use the name for a new band he was about to set up.He recruited two bassists, two guitarists, two drummers, a flutist and with him on keyboards, lead voices and production the album ''No man's land'' was recorded and released privately in 1975.

''No man's land'' is a strange album.However its quality is undenieable, even if the leading force is Hard/Psych Rock, not unlike Peraino's experience next to Arthur Brown on ''Journey'', along with some powerful doses of US-styled Pomp Rock.But this is some very dense, rich, passionate and 100% progressive music with Peraino becoming a star throughout, having an impressive arsenal of keyboards, including Moog and ARP synthesizers, Hammond organ and Mellotron.The music is impressive to say the least.One of the most energetic and instrumentally rich US Prog Rock albums of the period with many diverse influences, based on a Hard Prog style.Some tracks are very complex with tons of breaks and fantastic use of synthesizers, very fast flute lines akin to JETHRO TULL and grandiose, pompous vocals, not unlike NEW ENGLAND.Other pieces are straightforward Hard/Pomp Rock with a few proggy vibes, KANSAS could be an easy comparison during these cuts, with rough guitar moves, groovy passages and more clean singing lines.And of course there is some fair dose of Symphonic/Pomp Rock with dominant Mellotron waves, showered by the sharp ARP synths of Peraino with even some great guitar runs over the tracks' length.A couple of very short, instrumental pieces burst a more spacey mood, heavily relying on Peraino's psychedelic synth explorations.

I doubt this album got some serious notice around the time of its release, but one of the best reissues around is the one by Black Widow Records, which includes four tracks from the 81' EP ''We're next'', when the band was performing as Kingdom.Of course the music is more accesible with glamourous vocals, total lack of vintage keys in the sake of synthesizers and scratching, guitar riffs with a Proto-Metal/Hard/Glam Rock attitude.Some funky touches and a dull sax part are also present.One of the tracks is a new version of Arthur Brown's classic piece ''Fire''.

There are some more keyboard wizards in this world except Rick Wakeman, Tony Banks and Keith Emerson.Victor Peraino is definitely one of them and ''No man's land'' is a great document of pompous Hard/Symph/Psych Rock with plenty of amazing keyboard deliveries, not to mention the nice work on guitars and flute.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.