TERRA INCOGNITA: BEYOND THE HORIZON

Roswell Six is an all-star Progressive Metal project similar in style and form to Explorers Club. The project leader here is the amazing Erik Norlander and the large cast is gathered from such admirable sources as Dream Theater, Saga, Asia, Lana Lane, Shadow Gallery, Kansas, and IQ (among others). This star-studded line-up is almost certain to attract fans of those bands, this reviewer included, but even if these big names certainly gives you more than a hint of what to expect here in terms of style, I have to point out that in terms of quality, Beyond The Horizon does not come close to any of the better efforts of these great bands. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly some very good moments and individual contributions to be found here, but overall the album is a bit of a hodgepodge of the contributors' diverse styles and sounds. It thus sounds a bit like a sampler or compilation album as the separate tracks are not always as connected to each other musically as one would have hoped. The several songs on which Lana Lane sings lead for example (Halfway to name one), sound very much as if they were taken straight off her own albums. Now, this is not surprising given Norlander's essential role in both projects. Neither is it negative as Lana Lane's music is very often brilliant and never bad. Similarly, Here Be Monsters sees John Payne deliver a song that, though on the heavy side, easily could have come off an Asia album. Again, Michael Sadler provides some fantastic ballads that would not have been out of place on a Saga album, etc. Indeed, all the vocalists are excellent and do an excellent job here. But still I must say that I prefer them in their respective home environments.

As far as the instrumental performances go, some lovely flutes by Martin Orford and violins by David Ragsdale stand out. This contributes to the occasional "oriental" feel of several songs. Overall a good album, but there are many better ones of its kind; even Norlander's own conceptual Music Machine beats this.

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