FORTUNE TELLING

Strangefish debut album Full Scale was a really good album that I rated 4 stars even though it was 4 small stars. Fortune Telling is a very similar album both in quality and style. The big influences are still Marillion, Genesis and IQ. IQ is mostly heard in the vocal melodies and the way Steve Taylor sings at times. There is also a healthy dose of hard rock on Fortune Telling as there were on Full Scale and Steve Taylor is in addition to being a great prog rock singer also a very good hard rock ditto. In fact Steve Taylor is one of the best vocalists I have ever heard in a neo progressive band. I know the competition isn´t that hard, but he is a really great singer.

The music is in the neo progressive vein but with hard rock moments here and there. There are also some symphonic prog rock moments that makes this album more than your average neo progressive album. A song like It Could Be me is a great example of the symphonic Style Strangfish is also capable of. It´s my favorite track here. Most songs are of a pretty high quality but a song like Random isn´t to my liking. Personally I think Strangefish are best when they play the symphonic style. The more pure neo progressive moments don´t do that much for me, but fortunately they always mix the genres. In 360° and Keep the exits clear there is some violin parts too. It all adds to the diversity of the album.

The musicians are very competent and again I have to mention how great a songer Steve Taylor is. He masters every genre to perfection.

The production is pretty average. Not bad though. It just doesn´t do that much for the music.

I think Fortune Telling is very similar to Strangefish debut album Full Scale and there hasn´t been that much development in their sound. I gave Full Scale a small 4 star rating and I will give this one a big 3 star rating. It´s pretty good but not fantastic and next time I want to hear some development in the sound. Strangefish have lots of potential IMO but still needs to show that they can do more than just make above average albums.