VOYAGE OF THE ACOLYTE

Fantastic progressive-rock album. It sounds very much like the early 70s Genesis (Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins play on it after all). The difference is that the keyboards are not the dominating rhythmic instrument which was the tendency in Genesis in the mid 70s. Instead, Hackett and Rutherford offer great acoustic play and of course Steve's classical electric solos. Flute, cor anglais and violin are also heavily featured on this album. The sound is really majestic. Now the songs - there are wonderful mellow acoustic pieces: Hands Of The Priestess, Hermit, Lovers, and to certain extent Star Of Sirius, those are similar to Genesis stuff like Horizons, Entangled, It's Yourself or Blood On The Rooftops. Then there are two heavy and rocking almost fusion tracks - Ace Of Wands, which reminds me of Genesis track ...In That Quiet Earth, and A Tower Struck Down, which has the 9/8 or very similar structure of the Apocalypse In 9/8 part of Supper's Ready and is the most different track from the rest of the album. Two favourite tracks of mine are Star Of Sirius, which builds up from a dreamy mood to a powerful chorus sung wonderfully by Phil Collins with flashing guitar solos, and Shadow Of The Hierophant. This track is simply majestic and reminds me a lot of King Crimson, although I'd say it's even better than similar KC tracks like In The Wake Of Poseidon or Epitaph. It has wonderful vocals by Sally Oldfield, great guitar combined with mellotron strings. Really fantastic song I can imagine being performed in opera. I HIGHLY recommend this wonderful piece ofmusic.