STORIES

Ziff is a german band who beggins their career in the mid '80's. The luck didn't struck them untill 1995 when they release first album entitled Stories. Well majority of the pieces from this album were composed in the late '80's and only fiew were fresh (composed in 1994-1995). So the music on this album is very pleasent, with nice harmonies on guitar made by the main composer and lyricist Achim Frick, and above all the keys passages are very well executed and very good made by Marco Vogel. As I said the music is very well composed, neo prog with some influences from old school of prog like : Genesis, Iq and even in places Marillion. The strongest point of this album is the melodic aproach of the pieces, very strong are the interplays between guitar and keys, aswell as thge voice on some tracks is really great and warm. Tunes like Lady With A Past, The Grim Reaper,Mystic and the last one Kristal are real treat for any neo prog listner, with catchy arrangements and good lyrics. So all in all a great debut by this german neo prog band, who desearve 4 star for sure, kinda underrated by many but if you put the hand on both albums, this one and the next one , for sure you will end up likeing both very much. The cover art is an intristing one that make the listner to apreciate even more this great work of Ziff. Both albums are released on Musea Records, so don't hesitate to listen to this great but in the same time almost forgotten band.