A POET'S SOLILOQUY

I only knew this debut after I had the "Somewhere Alive in The Crowd" album because one song presented was "The Last Way" which I never heard before. Then searched the net and found out that this song was contained in the debut album of the band. I adored the band's second album "Voices From The Crowd" that to me was a combination of Fish-era Marillion and hard rock music (something like Van Halen) especially the way guitar riffs and melody are played. Awesome album. The live album that came out two years after the second album was released was an excellent one as well (see my reviews on these two releases).

Through this debut album, the band's music is a bit raw and looks like unpolished yet. But it's okay for a debut, I think. As my linking pin was "The Last Way", this song became my first priority to listen to the first time. Yeah - it's an excellent track even though I prefer the live version - it's much more dynamic. At least, by having the studio version, I got some comaprison on how it originally sounded like. The other song that attracts me is the album title track "A Poet's Soliloquy". Yeah, it's an enjoyable track. One might categorize this as a neo prog album. Overall, the music had not shown its maturity. The peak of the band's career was their second album. It's a highly recommended.

The musicians perform their task at their best. Marcus Arnrich plays quite a dynamic drumming; Markus Getta with his guitarsaccompanied with Tom Mueller on bass . The Fish-like vocalist Dirk Bovensiepen performs his duty really well. On keyboards is Sven Martin. Musicianship, they are quite strong. If you are a neo prog lover and knows the band's other releases, it's good to have this in your collection. There are many songs with tasteful melody that you might enjoy listening. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Short-lived neo progressive rock band,formed in Germany in 1989.Influenced by the likes of MARILLION and SAGA,they presented themselves to the public with ''A poet's soliloquy'' in 1994.Their interesting combination of the somewhat heavy electric guitars with the synthesizers flights and some good piano parts sounds quite tasteful and enjoyable.Vocalist Dick Bovensiepen has a singing-style resembling to a more aggresive FISH or Peter Nichols of IQ (yes,the English-sung vocals have the familiar German accent),while the album contains also some great hard rockin' tracks with good solos,nice grooves and a tight,almost-metal heavy rhythm section.This is not an exceptional work,however fans of keyboard-driven neo prog with balanced speeds and carefully-arranged compositions will like this a lot.A very decent starting point for DARIUS.