OCEANARIUM

This is the second time I get a Deluge Grandeur CD, and I must admit that Dan Britton & co deliver a better CD than The Form Of The Good (2009). Problem is: their songwriting is still unfocused and without personality. It is obvious that Britton has the right influences and tries hard to deliver a 79 minute symphonic prog extravaganza: the musicians he chose are all brilliant ones, and he throws in just about every possible instrument on this album: trumpet, cello, violin, harmonica, clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, oboe, flute, trombone, even guitar! Not to mention his vast array of vintage sounding keyboards, plus bass and drums. All wrapped up with an adequate production (in this subject he seems fond of low tech recording facilities, like he was intending to sound exactly like it was made in a 70´s studio!). Still he can´t come up with songs.

Don´t get me wrong, there are several good melodies on this CD, but no cohesive whole whatsoever. In fact most tracks sound like a collection of ideas that sometimes work well together, but frequently don´t. His most obvious influence here is Mike Oldfield (around the time of his Hergest Ridge album, to be more precise), although there are several others too, like ELP, Gentle Giant, Yes, King Crimson and Pink Floyd. Britton does not seem to pick up a good melody and develop it into a song that has a beginning, a middle part and a conclusion. A real shame. The closer he gets to it is the last tune, Water To Glass - The Ultimate solution, which held my attention for most of its 12 minutes, but still is nothing that memorable.

Oceanarium has its moments, and it is definitely a step forward when compared to The Form Of The Good, but not much. I´m still hoping that someday Grandeur Deluge will be able to write songs as good as their talents on playing their instruments.

Rating; 5 star performances, 2 star compositions: 3 stars overall. Barely.