STEP INTO.....

How nice to find a progrecord almost totally unknown to most progressionists.... progfans so to speak. I downloaded this by accedent and it got the grip on me at the first moment I listened to it.

Step into... begins with a piano and a voice making such an nice melodie that it makes me happy. This melody only last for 10 seconds and is recorded not loud anough. After that a symphony of keyboards plays a composition that would have fit in a fantasy game or something like that. But if you don't bother with the plingploing sound of this song you might actually come to like it very much. At the end you'll hear the first lyrics, all in a language I can't understand. Are they Japanese?

The second song is called Gathering Wave. It start with an mathemetical tune that somehow fits in another tune played at an other speed. I like this! Then a high tempo symphonic rockpiece comes. The title is chosen well, for you get the feeling of an underwater world. Everything in this song is quite complicated. No crossoverprog to be found here... I wonder how they get that lable? In the soloparts of this raging wave you'll hear a lot of great musicianship! It's somehow strange, but very interesting to listen to. Great track!

Schvelle starts off amazing, then come a great riff in some strange tempo, they don't like normal rythms! This is the first song of the album. You can cope with his voice, or you just don't like it. I myself can apriciate the Japanese sound though he sings as high as if it were a powermetal act. In this song you also hear great instrumental parts! You got the feeling these guys are intelligent. I also totally like this guitarist, he is inspiring because of his own intepretation of music.

Magic Eyes then. This is more of an epic, you get the feeling it's about an important middle ages battle. A royal sound is created by the keyboards. Some more lyrics here, but also very nice instrumental parts. In the middle instrumental part a great way of building up tension is shown and so also this song is a succes.

Caution! took me some longer to like. But now I think it's a very ok song. It's a bit fast with strange keyboard sounds, a bit elektronic sometimes. I like the tension on this track. The title was well chosen to discribe the vibe of this track.

Sleepless Night is a balled. If you like his singing, you'll like the song for it is very moody in a way. Nice emotions are to be heard here. I personally think the vocalist is asking to much of his voice. But, nice melodies. Peacefull song.

Fall in Alone is the last song. This song I never listen. It's just not as good as the other and should not have been released. The voice here is bad, the song just doesn't work. It's a pitty, because so far so good and this blows the whole thing up. Bad shot!

Hopefully I still was still able to make some people interested in this album. I like to listen to it, but it's not something a lot of your friends are going to enjoy. Some say they thought it would have been great music for pokemon (a children tv hype). Nevertheless, I think Vienna has moved some frontiers on this album. It's inspiring, innovating and yes... it's realy progressive! No crossover prog to be found on this record.

Great music, progressive, but not recorded perfectly and the last song is not so good. So... 3.5 five stars... but I'll make it four. Just give this a try!

Vienna is one of the forgotten band from Japan, who never gained the recognition they desearve across the years. The keyboardist from Outer Limits - Shusei Tsukamoto together with the bass player Toshimi Nagai the band Vienna in 1987. Step into.. is their second effort from 1988 released at King records. The music Vienna playes is a combination between their country fellows Gerard and in places some ELP influences are present but tinged with edged rock in places, but for sure their background is towards symphonic prog. The album is quite good, the musicianship is ok, the voice is nothing spectacular but ok, lyrics being in japanese gives to the album a special atmosphere, even I didn't get a thing from what Yukihiro Fujimura sung here. I like the keyboards how sound here, from fast to slow, always keeping with the rest of the instruments a good and enjoyble journey in Vienna's music. Good bass lines, quite complex and with the drums give a solid rhythm section. While the album is quite good, something tells me that is little less convinceing then Gerard works for ex. It took me long time to find this album, but fortunately I found it on CD , in novemeber and I was really thriled for sure. Hard to find, but if anyone wants to give a chance of this band, that for some reson never made it in prog circles, try Vienna, for sure will not be a deseppointed listning. 3 stars, good release but far from being something of a lost treasure.

The second album from this Japanese orchestra.

Pomp rock is not officially an own genre within the ProgArchives community. Hence the use of the Crossover genre here. But truth to be told, Vienna plays Pomp Prog in the same alley as Magnum and Saga. That means pompous synths, pompous vocals, pompous guitars and pompous songs in the area in between symphonic prog, neo prog and progressive metal.

Quality wise, this album is good. It also have some very good melody lines. But I am not able to pinpoint a single great, memorable song from this album though. That is my main gripe with this album. But I still like Vienna's brand of pomp rock and this is a band with great skills too. Unfortunate; they did not manage to unlock all of their skills on this album and that is a pity. It is still a good album though.

3 stars

After not bad, but average "Overture", the same year Vienna decided to record another longplay - "Step Into...". And I have to say that it was a wise decision, because in spite of short time which passed between these albums, we can hear an improvement. However songs are slightly shorter here, they became more energetic, lively and heavier. You could think that shorter duration of tracks means automatically more mainstream approach, but I can assure you that on "Step Into..." situation is quite opposite, compositions are less pop/AOR-oriented and more prog this time. While cheese factor connected with 80s gear and production is unfortunately still presented here, it doesn't bother listener as much as on "Overture". I'm especially fond of wider usage of old-school Hammond organ sounds. It was a clever decision to mix-up more vintage vibe in keyboards department, but of course it was 1988 so high-tech synths still dominate on this record.

And now the songs:

1. "Step Into The Vivid Garden" - beginning of the album is a real surprise. Yukihiro Fujimura sings in English and we have very nice piano melody there. Is it really Vienna or rather Procol Harum?! However it's only few seconds and later on we have very soft instrumental part filled with cute keyboard sounds (often flute-like). In the middle we have grandiose symphonic orchestration attack and near the end vocal part appears again. Nice, little ditty, very untypical for this band. Good introduction for me.

2. "Gathering Wave" - instrumental bombast very much in the vain of Gerard. Shusei Tsukamoto rather successfully tries to re-create Toshio Egawa's synthesizers histrionics and plays like there's no tomorrow, while Yukihiro Fujimura is blasting our ears with heavy-handed metal riffs. Truly furious performance, definitely the most Gerard-inspired composition in Vienna's repertoire.

3. "Schvelle" - first vocal-oriented track on this album is a standard heavy prog number driven by hard-edged guitar and dazzling synthesizers. Very energetic & "busy". There are also some brief but good organ passages. Similar to other Japanese prog-rock bands like Novela or Scheherazade.

4. "Magic Eyes" - first mini-epic (only slightly above 8 minutes long) is a decent track with as usual competent vocals and above average keyboards performance. I truly enjoyed those ass-beating Hammond rides and melodic piano bits, even fanfare-like 80s synthesizers sound OK here. I love the middle part with military-style drumming and (electronic created) flute sounds too. All in all very symphonic approach.

5. "Caution!" - similar to "Schvelle" but I think it's slightly better. Only this too sloppy/poppy refrain can ruin your fun, but it's a small complaint 'cause the main attraction of this song are solos of course. And these guys surely know how to deliver the goods! Especially extended, ripping Hammond organ solo is a blast! It's so frenzy and hard beating fragment, that it could make even Toshio Egawa proud.

6. "Sleepless night" - delicate ballad filled with melancholic vocals and soaring synthesizer sounds. Nothing particularly stands out here. Can be to take a deep breath between more dynamic tracks but that's all.Similar songs took too much space on Gerard's 3rd album "Irony of Fate" later IMHO.

7. "Fall in alone" - the longest composition of the album is too messy for me. There are too many corny, pop-oriented vocal parts for my taste (some of them in poor English), while Ryuichi Nishida's drumming is too heavy and busy at times. However solos are top notch as ever so I definitely can't say it's a waste of disk's space.

"Step Into..." is an enjoyable effort but I don't think it will ever break to anybody's TOP 20 list. Gerard's influences are much more evident here than on Vienna's debut album, and that's actually good news for me 'cause I'm Gerard's admirer, but Shusei Tsukamoto isn't as spectacular as Toshio Egawa. He's solid, but he is just unable to impress me as much as other Japanese keyboardists. However I appreciate that he decided to use more Hammond on this longplay, it's always a big plus for me. In general it can be an interesting album for fans of such J-prog bands as Novela, Scheherazade, Gerard and to a lesser extend also Moondancer, Teru's Symphonia or Outer Limits.

Best tracks: "Magic Eyes" & "Gathering Wave"

Almost 4 stars...but rather 3,5 from ozzy_tom