FIELD OF NAMES

I had the pleasure to discover a German band at the end of last year. It was their 3 songs debut CD EP "Beyond The Mirror" that really impressed me with its professionalism. This independent release gave them a contract with DVS Records where they have released their first full-length album.

Their new album impresses me right from the first song and the first listening of the opening title track "Field Of Names". They even got some accordion on it, which sounds really good and original. Originality is something you can hear a lot of on this album, and it has an amazingly clear and dynamic production. The musicians are tight and technically brilliant without letting the complexity take to much space. Even though the tracks contain many long instrumental passages, variation and mood changes it's always the catchy melodies that is most important. Philip Griffiths has a strong voice and he's definitely one the best vocalists in this genre. In the song "The Readiness Is All" Philip is singing together with his father Martin Griffiths who once was a singer in Beggar's Opera.

Their influences are Beatles, Dream Theater, Pink Floyd and Spock's Beard, but there are also reminiscences to IQ, Pallas, Rush and Saga. Actually it's very 70's influenced at times but with a modern sound, close to prog metal at times and sometimes they're wandering into jazz areas with a very great result. As you can see there are a lot of diversity on this album.

The magnificent artwork is made by Mattias Norén (www.progart.com) who I consider being one of the best artwork artists ever. "Field Of Names" is without doubt one of the best releases this year and DVS Records strongest release so far. I would be really disappointed if Alias Eye won't be one of the leading bands in progressive rock within a few years. Highly recommended!