INSIDE

'Inside' is the second studio album by hard rock/space rock band Eloy. After original lead vocalist Erich Schriever left the band after Eloy's debut, Frank Bornemann decided he wanted to add something more into his band's sound. What he added was a futuristic tone and spacey lyrics to their sound, hence 'Inside' being a heavy space rock album.

While this album does maintain the Deep Purple-esque heavy metal/hard rock of the debut, the newly added space rock elements really makes the album stand out a bit more then the debut. The album opens up with the nearly 18-minute long epic 'Land of No Body', which starts out with some great bluesy bass. When Bornemann's vocals come in, they fit very well with the menacing bass grooves. Soon organ signals crashing guitar, before driving riffs enter. After the organ plays over the crashing guitar four minutes through, the menacing bass comes back with atmospheric space sounds giving the song a much darker tone. Towards the end, thumping bass and guitar drives under a great guitar solo leading up to Bornemann's screams over heavy guitar. Kind of reminds me of Rush's '2112' in this sense. The song ends with pounding organ and drums.

While the opener is certainly the main highlight of the album, there are other standout songs on here. The menacing title track is great, with the haunting chamber-esque organ playing over pounding drums. 'Future City' begins with acoustic guitars and winding sounds. Great cymbal work and driving bass soon signal in heavy guitar. Before the guitar solo begins is where Eloy's unique drum work shows with tribal drums combined with the winding noises. If you get the remaster, the driving Deep Purple-esque 'On the Road' is a gem.

I've noticed many people have an issue with Frank Bornemann's voice, mainly due to his thick accent. However, I happen to love his voice. Probably one of my favorite vocalists to be honest. It's very unique, and I think it fits perfectly with the music. Lyrically, I love how in songs like 'Land of Nobody' space themes are mixed in with subtle political commentary. Lyrics like 'We just leave the earths ground, On the way to see the new star.' are combined with 'We want freedom, We want freedom for the world, Power to the people, And the righteous in the land.' I find these kinds of metaphorical lyrics really cool.

Overall, I highly recommend this album to any fans of proto-metal, hard rock, and space rock. It shows the beginning of Eloy's masterful combination of heavy metal/hard rock and atmospheric space rock. 4.5 rounded up to 5.

(Originally written for www.metalmusicarchives.com)

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