SILENT CRIES AND MIGHTY ECHOES

From the very beginning of the majestic Astral Entrance, which is very much a Pink Floyd influenced Guitar and Keyboard introduction, you know you are in for another special hour in the company of Eloy. On the back of Ocean this is a more mature and and artistic album. It features a more synthesiser dominated sound than Ocean which gives it a more Symphonic Prog edge than previous Eloy and is reminiscent of PFM at times, especially during the second track Master of Sensation. A criticism of this album is it's reminiscence of the 'classic' prog bands particularly Pink Floyd, but this has been exaggerated, it is certainly heavily influenced by what Floyd had been doing at the time but they still give this album their own edge with fantastic musicianship. The guitar playing and keyboard interplay is the centre piece of this album and is best demonstrated in The Apocolypse, one of the finest feature length tracks by Eloy with some truly atmospheric moments created by Frank Bornemann's fantastic guitar playing.

Anybody who is a fan of Neo-Prog will really enjoy this effort from Eloy as it is very much the sound that the recognised Neo bands would be outputting just a few years into the future with the styles of the golden age of prog all incorporated into a great effort this can be looked at as the 'Birth of Neo-Prog' as In The Court Of The Crimson King was labelled for Symphonic Prog 10 years earlier.