BEYOND THE CLEAR AIR

While the 80's decade was the worst one for progressive rock with a lot of prog bands releasing commercial albums,it was exactly the same time when the best prog rock bands emerged in Japan heavily influenced by the british and US prog rock of the 70's.Among those bands were MIDAS,who were formed by vocalist/violinist/guitarist Eigo Utoh.Eigo was a big fan of symphonic rock and baroque music.After several live appearances,through which MIDAS earned some fame,''Black Vinyl'' label gave the band the opportunity to release their first work,''Beyond the clear air'' in 1988.

And this is a fantastic album.Eigo's violin dominates the whole album through complex interplays with the keyboards of Eishyo Lynn or even with fast rhythmic passages.The synthesizers and strong piano work of Lynn give the album a bombastic taste.But there is also a lot of melody in this album except the grandiose complex symphonic moments.I would say that the album comes as a succesful combination of OUTER LIMITS and PAR LINDH PROJECT with a fully symphonic sound torn between melody and adventuruous playing.Eigo's vocals are also mostly great,especially when he sings in a calm ethereal or operatic style.It seems that there is a little problem in his more aggresive rockier style of singing...But the most obvious problem of the album is the mediocre production,that causes some problems in the dynamics of the band's grandiose music...Sometimes it's like these great compositions lose some of their energy due to the production...At the end of course it's the music where I personally focus on and the result is fabulous...

MIDAS'debut album is one of the most underrated gems of japanese prog.It's an album full of romantic vocals,adventurous moments and ethereal symphonic passages with top notch violin and keyboards' interplays.The only reason I can't give this album a 5 star rating is, unfortunately, the weak production...However this is an absolute essential album for your collection,especially if your deep into symphonic rock!