GIANTS

At a very first glance ... well ... the cover art, painted by Paul Whitehead, reminded me of the Nursery Crime album somehow. And then I was pointed to some greek legend, I mean the tied up giant somehow. The huge robot on the other hand wears a dinosaur pic ... uhmmmm .... this is somewhat weird. Some food for thought in any case, about a possible concept existing behind that for example. DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS are Sepand Samzadeh (guitars) and Oscar Fuentes (keyboards). It's their third album in the meanwhile, released seven years since the previous 'In Extremis'. And now attention, they have teamed up with jack of all trades Billy Sherwood yet on this occasion. Everybody who is fairly up to date when it comes to the prog scene will know that he had a presence on uncountable productions recently, more than every other musician, at least I'm aware of. Not sure if he still has the overview. Much of it didn't appeal to me really, to be honest, but luckily it is different this time.

Hey, the Sherwood impact is important here, as he rather skillfully plays bass and drums throughout, and cares for the lead vocals on top. Above that he was in charge as the producer and helped the band with arrangements and lyrics. Experience pays off. Hence here we have a recommend issue. Take your time for this excurse. Exemplarily I will highlight the extended opener Spark that shines with varied layers and moods, Hammond and Mellotron drenched moments, partially reminiscent to the likes of Genesis and King Crimson. Finally the The Common Thread is a song written by Sherwood himself, and shows some obvious YES similarity. DAYS BETWEEN STATIONS have produced some proper delicate progressive rock stuff with a total length of about 60 minutes. Aside from the aforemetioned influences fans of Big Big Train and similar should pay attention also. 3.5 stars.