FIRST BASE

Talk about music with passion, I don't know of many other albums on which the entire band sounds so driven. The lead vocals are especially of note as Janita Haan really punishes her vocal cords, stretching them to the limit over and over. Admittedly, I usually side step most bands with a female lead vocalist but this album has me rethinking things completely. The first two tracks are enjoyable but not spectacular. These opening tracks are followed by an honest cover of FRANK ZAPPA's King Kong, which while I didn't mind it seemed slightly out of place with the rest of the album. Now, the fourth track, Black Dog, is truely a rock monster and is the highlight of the album. Black Dog has to be one of the great underrated songs in the history of rock music as a whole, let alone in heavy prog, with driving, powerful instrumentals and the intense vocals of Haan cutting through. The next track, The Mexican, is the second best song on the album and while it is a slight drop off from the previous track it is only because the heights of Black Dog. It is a bit of a shame that the band reached the peak of their musical career halfway through their first album, but better then than never. The final track, Joker, doesn't leave the listener disappointed as a ending but this is truely one of those albums which you will find yourself listening to one track off of over and over but not necessarily the entire album. Overall, with a band sounding so motivated to excel in every area and a true powerhouse track right in the heart of the album First Base scores 4 game winning home runs out of 5.