MONTH OF THE YEAR

I'm considering the debut album from TWIN AGE being Sweden's answer to Peter GABRIEL-era GENESIS. Lengthy moody tracks with extended instrumental passages. The keyboards, guitars and bass have similarities to GENESIS while the vocals though are different. It's also an album where The Mellotron is used in a delicate way.

TWIN AGE has written songs with very good melodies so I don't mind if they're sounding like GENESIS. GENESIS was one of the first bands I started listening to within the progressive and symphonic genre. When I heard their "Trick Of The Tail" album (1976) everything changed. Twin Age "Month of the Year" is one of the best GENESIS-sounding albums I've ever heard. If I should compare them to a newer band then GENESIS, it would be IQ.

I don't know if Twin Age wants to be compared to GENESIS or not, but it's impossible to ignore the facts. TWIN AGE is a band of great talents and I think they might have a bright future ahead.

Twin Age is one of the many neobands I'm exploring last few months. And amongst the roundabout 25 I listened to recently this is one of the better of those I didn't know yet. Twin Age is a fairly unknown Swedish neoband but as so much that's coming from this country also this band knows how to play great music. I will review each song below to let you know which are the better and which the lesser ones.

In the Well starts with a vocal part but after three minutes very melodic keyboardtunes take over and this goes on for over a minute, a bit of guitar and then the turn to the vocalist again. Guitar does a larger contribution later on with vocals ending the song. Very good song this appears to be. 4*.

The album contains 6 songs clocking totally 40 minutes divided in three 8 and three 5 minute songs (roughly). This second song (The Majority) clocks 5 minutes and goes on in the same style as the first with dominant vocals and accompaning guitar. Less captivating this one but still good. 3,5*.

Newgate is the second 8 minute track and starts with melodic guitar, a significant feature of Twin Age. After this slightly depressing vocals follow and some atmospheric guitar and organ-like keys. A bit of a melancholic song this turns out to be. But the beauty predominates in the end. 3,75*.

Showpiece in her showroom is a less significant song mainly caused by the lack of great instrumental contributions although a bit of nice guitarplay makes up at the end of the song. 3,25*.

Emily Dawn starts with fast keys soon accompanied by vocals and guitar. The fast keys return later on followed by very melodic keyboardplay. The song is somewhat better than previous. 3,5*.

Marble Island is the highlight of the album and as I already reveal in my comment on the 4th track I like large instrumental breaks and they are plenty there on this third 8 minute track. It has strong hints to Genesis at times but that's for the first time this album. Great song ! 4,25*.

The vocals I mentioned all the time will not be appreciated by everybody equally I'm afraid. It's one of those typical prog voices and well I'd say: listen for yourself what you think of it. And that goes for the whole album of course. The ratingscores can only result in a 4 star overall rating and that's what it will be. But I'm also here pretty sure not everyone will give this 4. In my case it's already rounded up (3,7) but I feel many prog reviewers would give this just two or three. But hey, I'm a neo freak and this is my review okay ?

Twin Age play a style of neo-prog which to my ears sounds closely related to early IQ - heavily influenced by Genesis, with a guitarist who is able to do a nigh-eerie Steve Hackett impersonation and a keyboardist who is able to masterfully evoke the sounds of classic 70s synthesisers; as with IQ, their music tends towards the darker and more mysterious ends of the Genesis sound, and like IQ they are at their best when they get into a long instrumental section in which the guitar and keyboards can play off against each other.

Their weak link, unfortunately, is lead vocalist Johan Hansson, who gives an earnest effort but is rarely better than "lukewarm". Whenever the vocals come in it's a little jarring, and the musical backing to the vocal sections is usually a bit more pedestrian and predictable than in the instrumental passages.

So, I can't say their vocalist is up at the level of Peter Nicholls, and musically they are not the most original crowd on the block. That said, I think on the whole they've produced a more-or-less credible album here and most neo-prog fans will enjoy it for a couple of listens - IQ fans in particular - and yet, I suspect many will find, like me, that it simply isn't a keeper in the long term.