STORIES

Depite the use of various instruments and alanog equipment,BRIGHTEYE BRISON are one of those bands,who try to create a more accesible format of progressive rock,easy listened also by non-prog fans.Warning!This has nothing to do with pop or other commercial music forms,this band plays just a more accesible format of prog rock.Formed at the dawn of the millenium,BRIGHTEYE BRISON are lovers of the 70's prog movement and actually four members of this effort are original founders of the band.Only vocalist Per Hallman joined the band a little later,but it must be noticed that he was actually the sound engineer of the band's first release.

''Stories'' is the sophomore effort of the band and it was released in 2006.After several listenings all I can say is that the band's sound is heavily based on vocal harmonies and arrangements and the smooth sound of the constantly alternating instruments.If you're searching for complex or heavy sounding music,try better somewhere else.The influences of the band are obvious and undeniable.The analog keyboards will bring GENESIS to your mind,some classical music influences refer straight to ELP,the vocal harmonies are a strong yet carefully arranged imitation of GENTLE GIANT or even YES.Unfortunately one more thing I noticed is that,as the album unfolds,it gets weakier and weakier.The first fouror five tracks are well- crafted,70's influenced prog rock,while the later ones follow a kind of ballad-like form that gets me a bit tired along the way.Of course these tracks deliver also musicianship of high quality but they have also a slightly AOR-ish flavor.At the end of my listenings,the best way I could describe this album would be a combination of NEAL MORSE's works with ADVENT's Gentle Giant-ish prog rock...

BRIGHTEYE BRISON are a band with potential,noone can deny this IMO.A bit of experience and a more alternating heavy/smooth sound could give them some more credits on prog community.For now,this is a decent second effort by the band,easily recommended for those who search the more mellow side of progressive rock.Fans of YES,SPOCK'S BEARD,NEAL MORSE and GENTLE GIANT should spend also some time giving this album a few spins...Recommended,3 stars...