NEVER WASN'T

I read someone mention this band and their new album in a thread on Progressive Ears and so was interested in having a listen. I did, however, expect something else, particularly after reading the short album description on CD Baby.

I'll mention my impression of several songs on this album:

Starting with an interesting and exciting intro in the opening song "Can't Find The Door", the rhythm then slows down, the singing begins and the tune loses its original charm. The keyboards sound is a bit annoying and doesn't mingle very well with the rest of the sound.

"Timeline" is better with regards to the instrumentation and its sound; there's better integration of the whole band's sound, sounding more as a unit and not as un-homogenous bunch of instruments. However, there's still a problem with the mix to my ears. Aside from that, the song itself is nice and catchy, though I don't like the vocalization too much, but others may obviously. There's a good keyboard accompaniment throughout the song, giving it an old aroma of older rock. "Changing Seasons" also has a good and catchy tune but the vocals detracted the enjoyment from the music for me.

"No More War" has a pop-ish/80's rock sound to it and the strong synth sound only serves to enhance this. This is probably my least liked song in the album.

"Take A Moment" has a good opening, again like I mentioned before, and it then takes a turn and moves into an even better rhythm with a dominant bass presence. The song itself, surprisingly, doesn't fail to keep up the promise it presented. This song is one of the few highlights in this album along with "In Tune With The Moon" and "The Last One".

Another such song is "Leprechaun" which is rhythmic and enjoyable but the sound of the keyboards reminds me of my old organ and my music class where we'd play together and having this type of sound. This type of sound is prevalent throughout the album and probably is what the band had at their disposal but this song can sound much better with different instruments; but the good basis is here.

I could go on about the other songs, but there's not much more valuable info or opinion I can add. I'll conclude with saying that there's not one song that left a particular impression on me.

General points:

I don't like the voice of Ronny Lapine, the lead vocalist (I truly don't mean to insult) and I don't think the backing vocals do much to help either. To me, the vocals detract from the music. But as we all know, your mileage may vary with regards to that. There are some songs where I think his voice suit very well, like "The Last One" for instance. But overall, I thought it wasn't 'in line' with the sound, mood and spirit of the album.

They have the potential to create interesting and well-done tunes and song, but it seems to not come into full fruition. Some songs open quite strongly (the two first songs for instance) and others have good form and sound to them but then the song as a whole sound missed, not living to the promise or potential it has. In the end of the album, I can't say there's a memorable song I'd like too re-listen to.

The sound and mix makes the band not sound cohesive and solid; to me it sound as if the instruments don't mix well together.

Not exactly prog-rock, it is more prog-ish-rock, with some neo-prog influences ("Take A Moment" for instance reminded me of Arena for some reason) and some 70's prog (as is evident from the synth sound on some of the tracks, "In Tune With The Moon" for instance).

Overall, I will not be coming back to this album for further listens. I have no intention to bash this album or the music for there are, in my opinion, good potential and some enjoyable moments. But two general things make this an album I don't particularly like: - The album's sound/mix and the vocals and all other technical issues. - The music itself doesn't do much for me. Apart from occasional nice tunes, I find it to be generally a miss for my taste.

What I think/recommend/wish they should do is invest more effort on developing the music idea they have in each song. There is already evidence for them doing that in songs like "In Tune With The Moon", "Changing Seasons" and the opening of "Can't Find The Door". Aside from that, getting a different keyboards set to have a richer sound and play around with the mixing to get the various instruments to sound evenly and more clearly (the bass wasn't that dominant for example).

Maybe if someone else had reviewed this, he or she might have come with a different view of it, so I suggest caution and to take a listen to their music in their website.