ECHOES OF OBLIVION

American composer Mark Miller was a member of the North/South-Carolina band Avant Garde in the 90's, playing several shows with the band and as a solo artist, while releasinh his debut album ''Seasons of ice'' in 1993 on ICR Records.In 1997 he established his own studio and label Wheresville Records and in 2004 he returned with a second album, ''Echoes of oblivion'', containing material from his debut and some new songs.He received limited help by Avant Garde's old mate and drummer/vocalist Chris Davis as well as Wheresville Records' artist Danny McMahon.

Consider this to be a selection of songs, scanning Miller's career as a player and recording artist as well as a good example of his musical background.Do not consider this to be an actual Progressive Rock release, it's more into lyrical Soft and Art Rock with the FLOYD-ian influences prevailing to the point of plagiarizing the legendary band.The choice of recording this album practically all alone resulted to a lounge, chill-out atmosphere with limited or zero proggy explosions and the scenery becomes quite hypnotic throughout.This is not bad music, but it's extremely calm, vocal-heavy and gentle to the point becoming rather minimalistic, based on mellow acoustic and electric explorations and atmospheric synth lines with no evidence of Miller's rumored prog influences.''Seasons of ice'' is the longest and most interesting piece, recorded back in the days of Avant Garde's existence, with an atmosphere between GENESIS-styled Neo Prog and MIKE OLDFIELD-like guitar motiffs.There are also occasional dives into more rural soundscapes or Ambient/Electronic Music, but these only hurt the overall consistency of the album.

Good for background music, but not very satisfying as a whole and certainly not prog enough to meet the expectations of the casual prog fan.A work strictly devoted to lovers of PINK FLOYD's smoother pieces.