DREAM OF TREE

Japanese project ACCEPT has been a going concern for more than a decade, and in that time main man, composer and musician Hisao have recorded and released half a dozen studio albums. The most recent of these is "Dream of Tree", which was released on the Prime Number label in early 2019. A label I suspect may well be the artist's own label.

Japanese project Accept continues it's journey where progressive rock and moods of a more ambient nature are blended, and in this case seeking to produce sounds, moods and atmospheres of a dreamlike nature. A lot of this is accomplished, but weaknesses in the technical department, with substandard mix and production, will ultimately make this an album with more of a limited reach in my opinion.

When someone says Neo-Prog is boring...He (or She) is telling the truth as it is. Most of those albums trying to get that seventie's "vibe" of prog are dull as hell. The album here is not a total waste of time, but it is difficult to know what was this guy thinking when He wrote it. There's no central thread (to my knowledge) and the music is a hodge-podge that bear some resemblance to classic Genesis (Hackett's Genesis, the good one I mean) and in only one song "Blessing" You can hear a classic Yes hommage. So I am giving three stars here because of the memories.

No, this isn't the well-known Accept who have been making a mighty noise for some forty years, but instead is a solo progressive artist from Japan called Hisao. This is his sixth album, and was released earlier this year, with his debut coming out back in 2007. There was a time when I was listening to a great deal of Japanese progressive rock and must admit to having not previously come across a project quite like this. Most bands seemed to either be into classic progressive rock or jazz fusion, whereas what we have here is someone who is fully embracing the neo-prog scene of 25 years ago. Where Hisao succeeds very well is in making one think that Accept are indeed a band as opposed to a one-man project, as he is a strong guitarist and keyboard player, with some delicate piano here and there as well. His vocals are also clear and relatively unaccented, and it feels as if he is channelling Pendragon from 25 years ago, along with Shadowland.

There are times, such as during 'An Ancient Voice', when there are passages which just make the listener smile, but there are others when there is the feeling that he isn't really sure where he is trying to take the music. It can lose the thread, and along with it, the listener. It isn't a bad album, but solid as opposed to anything essential. If you are a fan of neo prog, particularly that of the early Nineties, then may well be interested. There are some strong rock guitar lines, and passages that can be inspired, but not all the time. I should also make comment on the digipak, which contains all the lyrics (which are all in English), as it is a nice presentation which isn't always the case with a self- release. It is a mystery as to why he chose to use the name of such a well-known band, but if you can get past the confusion then this may be to your taste.