GERARD

The japanese progressive rock scene tends to be one of strongest and surely one of my favourites prog rock movements with a personal bombastic sound.From what I've listened to (Ars Nova,Midas,Outer Limits,Kenso etc.), I'm totally blown out.GERARD must be considered one of the most consistent bands from Japan.Formed in early 80's by keyboardist Toshio Egawa,GERARD have a long and succesful career that lasts over 20 years.Egawa is a veteran of japanese prog rock,being formerly a member of great bands like Schezerade,Fromage and most importantly Novela,maybe the band who established the nowadays japanese symphonic style of rock.After his departure from Novela,Egawa formed GERARD without denying his former ''symphonic'' past.After several gigs,the band released their first eponymous debut in 1984.

This album is another example of great japanese prog rock created by mature musicians.The ELP influence is quite obvious through the grandiose and bombastic style of the keyboards of Egawa.Things do not stop here.There is an evident hard-rocking sound mostly created by the guitars,as well as some neo prog touches here and there.The ''Meridian'' intro sets the listener into the general atmosphere of the album with its symphonic/bombastic/melodic sound.The ''Orpheus'' suite is a decent example of a symphonic rock opus,with superb classical influenced piano,keyboards and vocals,a track very much in the vein of early ARENA.''Incantation'' is my favourite track.A 9 min. mini epic with beautiful melodic symph keyboards haunting it,followed later by equally melodic guitars.An emotional stunner!''Lasting memory'' is another ELP influenced without much variety,it's like a ballad-like suite with alternating keys and vocals.''Revenge'' is the first track where the hard rock influences of the band are in first place with the strong guitar start and the solos that come later,accompanied by bombastic synthesizers of Egawa.''Melting time'' is another mini-epic that has a slow start mainly covered with the voice of Yukihiro Fujimura,but later it changes to a mind-blowing over-complex organ/keyboards/guitars interplay.Great track!''Visionary dream'' should be considered as the ballad of the album without lacking in grandiosity or classical influences.The closer of the album is the most neo-proggish track of all,with AOR-ish synthesizers,rhythm,guitar solos and vocal melodies,it is quite enjoyable but has a lot of weaknesses compared to the other tracks...

GERARD's debut is a fine effort of symphonic progressive rock in the vein of ELP,mostly keyboard- driven (amazing work by Egawa in this section),lots of strong moments and great melodies...Don't let the neo-prog label prevent you from buying this album...This is pure grandiose quantitive symphonic prog!My fair rating is 3.5 stars...