FUTURE LEGENDS

From Ireland comes this quartet, that failed to make a permanent mark on prog, mostly because their (fine) music was simply too derivative to gain recognition from the public. The ultra symphonic sound developed as many warm qualities, such as a great sense of melodies, drama and, although not my cup of tea, a certain affinity for fantasy-oriented lyrics, outlined by their artwork sleeve design (done by bassist Farrelly). Somewhere between BJH, Curved Air and to a lesser extent Camel, the melodious prog is impressive enough, until you realize that it is relatively common and not particularly original: it sounds déjà-vu. This last remark is to be taken with caution, for at the time, there were not that many groups out there doing this sort of musical niche, but the three I mentioned above were much better known, hence the dangerous shortcut f Fruupp being copycats. I would not qualify them of such an ugly word (I prefer keeping it for bands like Druid who are "the real thing" in that regard), but their Genesis influences border on the overpowering.

From such a fine (yes even after this first paragraph) album, three tracks stick out of the pack: Decision, which is one of the more energetic of Future Legends with a heavy riff and very symphonic strings (synths for sure). Graveyard Epistle is another winner with the full melodramatics cranked up, and great dynamic range. But the apex of the album is the almost 8-min Song For A Thought, somehow not far from Wishbone Ash's Argus album and ends up in a strings delirium. I must say that the rest of the tracks are a little bland to my ears, but please be assured that there are no stinker, duds or fillers, just "second choice material" which is not completely without charm either. Bassist Farrelly's lead vocals are rather enjoyable but to say that they are impressive would be exaggerating: just fitting for the music. Another highlight would the Blues and symphonic laced Lord Of Incubus

A respectable debut album (they never made a bad album, either), that was probably holding much promise at the time, but somehow, something, somewhere things only click too rarely on this album to make it more than just three stars and non-essential. A rather pompous title that will probably be held against them, though.