ETERNITY RISE

"Eternity Rise" marks a slight improvement in Ramses' songwriting and arranging. The melodies are still strong, but a little less rudimentary than on "La Leyla", and a greater emphasis is placed on other keyboards, including mellotron and/or string synth.

This change is felt from the very opener "City Life". Although the theme is relatively simple, the message is effectively executed in keeping with the back to the land philosophy of 1970 (you will recall that Ramses tended to latch on to fads after the fact). Other strong tracks are "Time", with an excellent beginning; "Windy", which shows the group embracing a more acoustic backing for the moment; and of course the 10+ minutes title cut featuring most of what makes Ramses interesting, and a superb finale including martial drums and, of course, marvelous organ sounds.

While this sophomore effort shows a rise in quality, we're just dealing with a marginally superior 3 star effort, and certainly not an album to take beyond the grave.