CLIMBING MOUNT IMPROBABLE

Climbing mount improbable released in summer of 2008 was the sixth studio album of this descrete but very crafted and decent band from neo prog realm. Keeping the line up same as on previous two albums, with this album they bring nothing new in the genre, even in places is a let down from the rest of their albums. Stephan's warm voice was no longer available , and is made by one of the Wernars trio - Marijke who has a pleasent voice , but to my ears is a little cold without varations in range, and sounds in some parts like Pter Gabriel. I think is the weakest point in US later albums, while is good , it doesn't keep with the high standards of the music, and drag down the band with this aproach of the voice. The voice of Marijke is to monotone in my opinion, the voice of first two albums, - Sthephan Christiaans wa much better and was fiting like a glove in their music, I don't know why they get rid of this guy, he was very good vocalist. Now, about the music, same neo prog arrangements with this time little intristing elements added like on their previous albums,this time the band sounds like they are tired to sing and play anymore, no vein in the pieces, no balls to the arrangements, only the excellent bass of the main man of the band Jos Wernars and the solid keyboards of his brother Ernest save the album to be a usual one in this scene. Ok the instrumenal passages are all over, the album has 5 pieces, where 4 of them are over 12 min, the last one has 17 min , so enough space to show us they are among the best, but this time they not quite succed like on previous albums. The album is little monotone in places, and don't offer so much intristing ideas anymore. The best pieces is without doubt the longest one, here they shine like old time, with blistering and inventive keyboards and some superb bass lines, the rest are only ok, and as I said the voice is the one who must be replaced, because the rest is ok most of the time. 3 stars for this album, less enjoyble then Eamon's day, so far their best album, but with some good moments here and there. Still very unknown band in this field and for sure they need a wider recognition. All three albums boughted from their offcial site, where of course is available the who catalogue of US.Enjoy

When ''Reflections'' was released the Wernars brothers had already started working on their sixth album, which would be named ''Climbing mount improbable'', the work which meant to be the last featuring Ernest Wernars in the line-up.Marijke Wernars helps out on vocals for yet another Us release and the band kept using the Joris ten Eussens name for the drumming duties, although they still had to program the drums themselves.The album came out in April 2008 as a private production.

In the fullness of time the Dutch duo reached its bottom with this effort, from which the beautiful front cover and the ability of the composer Jon Wernars to produce decent, progressive suites are to be kept.Five compositions for a full hour of music, containing three tracks over 10 minutes long, still revisiting the classic GENESIS, YES and maybe early KING CRIMSON sound, but the recording quality problems start to bury the ideas of Us, which still remained interesting and intricate.The bad sound of drums, the fake sounds of the Mellotron and even some questionable bass lines start to become trully disturbing.Moreover throughout this labyrinth of thin sounds the lead vocals come as a hitting stone.Some albums need to be played by a normal group to sound good and ''Climbing mount improbable'' is one of these cases.Too bad, because noone can deny that there is some serious talent in here, the tracks are long, elaborate and pretty symphonic with changing moods and a wide instrumental variety, keeping the ongoing Dutch Prog scene alive and well.The best parts appear to be some great, GENESIS-styled electric melodies and solos, while the organ and synthesizer moves do sound more natural, despite some neurotic themes and solos.Structurally the pieces are still at a good level with multiple variations and a vast palette of symphonic and Neo Prog colors.But the synthetic and eventually weak instrumental selection has hurt the overall result next to a very false voice.

I would prefer this album to have come out in an instrumental version, while the instrumental armour should have been kept to reduced and more natural pieces.Neo/Symphonic Prog fans should still find something to like in here despite the obvious flaws, but overall this work seems like a black hole in the band's strong backcatalogue.