AT THE FIRST SIGHT

German keyboardist, composer and bassist Henny Arve is the man behind this duo.Arve was part of several bands in the 70's, most notably Madison Dyke and Relayer, with the latter he tasted brief success along with original Eloy drummer Helmut Draht until year 1979, when they diabanded.After a long period of experimentation he returned in the 90's with two albums, the musical ''Autumn waltz'' and the Symphonic Rock effort ''Hannibal's reisen''.Upon meeting with singer/guitarist Helmut Lilbob he decided to form his own project in 1998, named after his surname.In early 2000 the first album of the duo ''At the first sight'' was released.

This belongs to these kind of albums, which do not seem to go anywhere, lacking cohesion, solid composing and songwriting and even decent vocals.I mean there is some talent here, but there are absolutely no memorable melodies or refined parts, even if the general sound falls into the Symphonic Rock category.''At the first sight'' sounds like a collage of different arrangements thrown in a bug and someone has to put the pieces of the puzzle in the correct place.Dominant orchestral themes, retro-styled organ and Classical piano touches, female choirs, operatic and typical male voices and heavy guitar stuff.Additionally the display of sampled orchestrations or the fake drumming do not help at all, it make this one sound so pale and weak.There are some bright moments also as well to say the truth and it would be a surprise if not existing considering that Arve had some 20 years of recording experience at the time.Some isolated keyboard flashes, some guitar and synth interactions and some pompous themes, even those, which feature a mediocre vocal content, sound pretty cool and leave much to be desired, like more cohesion or a normal band playing on the album.The whole effort kind of reminds me an orchestral version of CITIZEN CAIN minus the Genesis resemblances, Arve wants to deliver dark-sounding Symphonic Rock, but the result is average at its best.

Not among the albums youy should bother with, unless Symphonic Rock is your favorite music by far.There is some decent instrumental variety in here, but there are no standouts or even a whole track to sound convincing.Approach with caution.