BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL

Jane

Heavy Prog

3.45 | 89 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

ZowieZiggy
Prog Reviewer

"Jane" already explored some spacey Floydian moods on their debut album "Together". The fantastic opener "Daytime" was an ode to this genre and my all-time fave from this very good German band.

They try to somehow redo this experience with the epic and title track : "Between Heaven And Hell". But this track is not evenly strong. The long instrumental intro for instance lacks some more grandeur. But after five minutes of the same treatment, the vocals and the mood are fully Floydian. The one of the early days ("Piper" / "ASOS"). But this section is alas too short.

It rocks alright for some moments (which is fully in-line with most of their hard-prog-rock) but there is no smooth links between the different part of this song. From hard-rock, we are transported into a chorale sort of vocal parts. A quite abrupt change to say the least.

The next and longest portion of this very good song (about seven minutes) is a great crescendo and symphonic passage. It is the second brilliant section of this "suite" and is bringing this song more into the four stars category. Nice but discreet keyboards and a very emotional guitar play are superbly combined. The last two minutes is a kaleidoscope of three previous parts : hard-rock, choir inspired vocals and Floydian atmosphere coming back for the finale. It ensures some consistency. This is of course the highlight of this album.

"Twilight" is a more classic "Jane" song. On the harder edge and featuring as usual some heavy keyboards � la "Uriah Heep" and a very pleasant guitar work. A good number. Especially the bombastic pre-closing part which is just as strong as the best of "Jane".

Even if "Voice In The Wind" is not a masterpiece, vocals are rather pleasant. Somewhat Jeff Lynne related (no, I am not drunk). A mellow rock ballad. But I like it. Very emotional style. The closing and short number is a fully "prog 'n'roll" as would say Hughes.

Seven out of ten. Rounded up to four stars.

ZowieZiggy | 4/5 | 2007-12-2

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