THE DEAFENING SILENCE

With the release of ''The dangers of strangers'' Abel Ganz returned to live performances, having recruited new guitarist Robert Wilson and drummer Colin Johnson, who also happened to be a studio engineer.However the line-up slump still was a major problem for the band.The places of lead singer and keyboardist had to be filled, after Hew Montgomery decided to step down.Christopher Forsyth joined the band as the new singer and Stuart Clyde became the keyboard player, leaving Hugh Carter as the only original Abel Ganz member.This formation recorded the band's fourth studio release ''The deafening silence'', released in 1994 on the French label MSI.

According to the words of Carter, Abel Ganz were dangerously flirting with becoming an average Rock group around the time and his words are pretty much reflected on the sound of the new album.While the Scottish band still retained much of its Neo Prog qualities, that made them a top entry among 80's British Prog bands, the high-pitched voice of the new singer along with the more pompous keyboards lines of Stuart Clyde had added some sort of AOR flashes in the new work.The eponymous ballad with its soft atmosphere, the following ''Hold the moment'' and certain passages in several tracks are like listening to something composed by FOREIGNER or JOURNEY.But there is also the bright side of the album.Montgomery had participated partly in the album's pieces and the recognizable sound of Abel Ganz is still evident in most tracks.Flashy keyboard themes, short-handed GENESIS prog qualities and the quirky and tricky solos along with the omniprsent sense of melodious themes are still based on the 80's British Prog tradition, offering memorable and raw compositions with plenty of energy and passion.Big symphonic synthesizers and grandiose deliveries of rich musical textures are enough to hold the listener's attention, even if not comparable to the best material written by the band.''Serendipity'' and ''Stranger in your heart'' are definitely among the striking and well-crafted efforts of the band and deserve some praise in Abel Ganz'es long repertoire.

The weakest, or better say most inconsistent, of all Abel Ganz early albums yet not weak enough to avoid a recommendation.A couple of tracks are of limited interest even to Neo Prog lovers, the rest of the album though contains signs of the band's 80's evolution with Clyde prooving to be a great keyboardist and Carter managing to keep the new formation together.Recommended.