ETERNITY RISE

Two years have passed between the first Ramses release and this album. But in between an earthquake invaded Europe. So, in those days I was not really in the mood for Ramses and it is only recently (four years ago or so) that I discovered their second album. Their first one was a good damned album I have to say, so I was rather curious to discover this one.

The opener can not really satisfied me. Very simple and straight-forward composition, very much in the BJH style; but since this band is huge in Germany maybe Ramses wanted to capitalize on their fame and produce some music a la BJH. This song will be their first single bw "Windy" which is a mellow rock ballad (again very much inspired by BJH). It is the poorest (but the only one) Ramses song so far.

Fortunately, "Only Yesterday" will bring us back to a more symphonic and classic Ramses. Even a bit pompous at times (yes like ELP). The song is fully in line with the best numbers of their debut album and one of the highlights from "Eternity Rise".

"Time" is somewhat darker and harder at start. Like "War" if you have heard "La Leyla" (which I strongly recommend). But the most subtle passage of this album will be featured just after this; so it is quite a strange (but beautiful) song. A fantastic and rageous guitar break will illuminate the second part of it.

"Agitation Play" sounds pretty much like "Devil Inside" from their first album. Fully ELP-ish during the intro; very powerful (even wild) keys as well as guitar. A strong and pleasant number even if it does not sound very original.

The title track features extremely nice parts of music but some weak vocals as well (fortunately there won't be too many). All in all it is a superb symphonic song and a great way to close this good album.

This album is not as good as their first one. Not as personal (BJH and ELP influence in four compositions). Still the album is pleasant to listen to and if you like the typical symphonic prog of the midle seventies, you won't be deceived. Three stars.

"Eternity Rise" marks a slight improvement in Ramses' songwriting and arranging. The melodies are still strong, but a little less rudimentary than on "La Leyla", and a greater emphasis is placed on other keyboards, including mellotron and/or string synth.

This change is felt from the very opener "City Life". Although the theme is relatively simple, the message is effectively executed in keeping with the back to the land philosophy of 1970 (you will recall that Ramses tended to latch on to fads after the fact). Other strong tracks are "Time", with an excellent beginning; "Windy", which shows the group embracing a more acoustic backing for the moment; and of course the 10+ minutes title cut featuring most of what makes Ramses interesting, and a superb finale including martial drums and, of course, marvelous organ sounds.

While this sophomore effort shows a rise in quality, we're just dealing with a marginally superior 3 star effort, and certainly not an album to take beyond the grave.

I've owned La Leyla for years, the American pressing on Annuit Coeptis, with "Noise" instead of "War" (same song, different lyrics, as the American label did want a song critical of the Vietnam War, still too fresh in American minds in '76). I have to say it has some great moments, but a couple of repetitive songs like "Garden" and "Someone Like You" that could have stood a bit more creativity. Of course, I knew that Ramses wasn't going to be the most mindblowing band out there. Eloy certainly had a lot more edge to what they were doing.

Eternity Rise actually seemed to manage making less repetitive material, but none of it reaches the heights of La Leyla, at least nothing offensive here. It seems the Moody Blues and Barclay James Harvest influence really makes itself known on two of the songs. "City Life" is in the BJH and Moodies vein, while "Windy" is more Moodies than anything (all was needed here was a Mellotron, which Winfried Langhorst did own one, but didn't use it much on this album, and not at all on this song). The album features nice material like "Only Yesterday" and "Agitation Play", and "Windy" is a great song, as mentioned. That Moodies influence is simply undeniable there. Much of the rest of the album is German prog as usual: influenced by local (that is, Hannover) contemporaries like Eloy and Jane, as well as other German bands like Grobschnitt and Novalis. This is the type of music you expect off the Sky label: the stuff not mindblowing enough to make it on Brain seemed to be order of the day, at least Ramses is still very good, but not without its flaws. At least it's quite a bit better than that pretty dreadful Light Fantastic, the followup that appeared in 1981. Many of you will probably already know this album if you bought the CD reissue of La Leyla, because it included this album as well. but I went the vinyl route so I only got Eternity Rise now (July 2017), while I owned La Leyla since September 2000. It's probably because the band was not priority number one why I didn't buy Eternity Rise ,much earlier (and me being a bit suspicious of prog released 1978 or after given how the quality really slipped). Glad I bought it, it has nice material, and worth having for fans of late '70s German prog.