FANATIC

Three albums in six years. This is not a furious rhythm of course for "Jadis". On their behalf, two of their members are busy as well with "IQ" and maybe more attention was dedicated to the later band...

The best "Jadis" times are IMO their debut album (in the Special Edition form), and a very good EP "Once Upon A Time". After these, some good live releases and that's it actually.

And this one won't change my overall feeling. If you except two very good songs of which the title track and "What Kind of Reason", the offering is rather dull and too much similar to previous works.

"Fanatic" features a superb and spacey intro. Miles away from the global AOR / hard feeling during most of the other songs. Great guitar break (at last) from Gary. Emotion at its best for this instrumental track. The first highlight of this CD. It could have been the first movement of something brilliant.

But, alas! It will just be a short breathe of fresh air into this ocean of heavy and uninspired songs like "The Great Outside" which is really close to hard-rock and featuring dull vocals (which has never been the strenght of this band to be honest : a poor opening number full of clichés).

To name them would be as good as naming almost all songs from "Fanatic". But "Into Temptation and "Yourself Alone" are probably the worse you can expect from this album. The poppish "Take These Words" being not great either.

The secong great song being "What Kind of Reason". Some delicate instants in this maelstroem of weak stuff. Nicely built (from acoustic guitar and passionate vocals to a somptuous melody with wonderful instrumental parts (keys and guitar). The second highlight.

This is somewhat a useless effort. Very little great guitar moments as we have been used to, melodyless songs for most of them. For die-hard fans only. Two stars.